


After Tomorrow

by HM (HyperMint)



Category: Day After Tomorrow (2004), Eureka, Jurassic Park III (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Adventure, All timelines messed with, Alternate Universe, Angst, Creative License, Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Suspension Of Disbelief, Tragedy, possible triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 47,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1771792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperMint/pseuds/HM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Chapman is with her two friends for the Scholastic Decathlon.<br/>Jack Carter is playing messenger for his friend Henry Deacon.<br/>Vin Tanner is at a sniper's convention.<br/>Alan Grant is finished with his actual work and has - reluctantly - agreed to take time for himself.</p><p>All four are in New York City while the world around them turns upside down.</p><p>** New Chapter Incoming: 10/31/2017 **</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Billy and Laura

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all. 
> 
> This is a story that has battered at me with the force of a Katrina-class storm and it's finally worn me down. After toying with it for the past few years, I've decided to go ahead with the idea. 
> 
> It's going to be quite a story that I hope to be proud of and I hope you are ready to enjoy. 
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: The movies The Day After Tomorrow and Jurassic Park III are not mine, neither are the television shows Magnificent Seven - the fanon universe of ATF Team Seven - or Eureka.

 

* * *

 

 

“I know that you want to come straight back home after the lecture series, but you have to take a break, too, Alan. That’s why I went ahead and scheduled another week for your trip. Don’t hurry back; I’ll be fine, honest. I’ll even call you with nightly updates. You know, to keep you updated on things… why are you laughing?”

It wasn’t that Billy Brennan was opposed to the older man’s amusement. In his humble opinion, Alan Grant more than deserved every good thing that could come to him and not to mention that he really needed to laugh more.

After the year and a half since Isla Sorna, the older man’s blue eyes had little reason to shine.

Billy knew that guilt was a big factor in that, the older man obviously believing himself to blame for Billy’s healing injuries. Alan had been with him every step of the way back to his more or less healthy disposition pre-Island and Billy was so incredibly grateful to him for that, but if the older man didn’t start thinking about himself pretty soon…

Billy didn’t want the older man to think about him all the time. He felt guilty enough that he was having an incredibly intense crush on the man without his knowledge.

That was, of course, what a crush was, but Billy had the feeling that he was walking a fine line between crush and –

“Earth to Brennan,” Alan’s chuckle broke through his thoughts. Seeing the younger man grin sheepishly in response, he shook his head. “Thanks for the consideration, but I don’t –”

“Alan. You. Will. Take. A. Vacation.”

The older man’s face softened as he studied his Grad student’s determined look. “If it’s that important,” he sighed, relenting.

“Thank you,” Billy reached out to squeeze his arm. “It is when your health is on the line, too.”

“It’s not –“

“When was the last time you took some time to yourself? Before the Island, right? New York is great this time of year. I even have you at the Dewdrop, the one under new management? It’s not far from a lot of museums and I know you’ve wanted to mock the Natural History Museum’s Dino exhibit for a few years now.”

“Okay, okay,” Alan huffed a laugh, pulling away from Billy’s grasp, much to the younger man’s disappointment. “I’ve been convinced, my arm twisted.”

“Good,” Billy grinned widely. “And you’ll make sure to visit all the tourist traps? Make sure to take pictures, Alan.”

“If I have to,” he lifted a shoulder.

“Of course you do, I’m making you,” Billy informed him.

“Making him do what?”

They turned to see one of Billy’s fellow Grads, a Goth-like blonde who knew about his crush on his mentor and teased him mercilessly for it.

“Ms. Erickson,” Alan nodded at the blonde.

“If Billy’s making you do stuff you don’t want to do, Doc,” Erin said seriously, “don’t let him use those puppy eyes to do it.”

“I’m just making sure Alan has time for himself,” Billy defended, feeling a light flush running up his neck. ‘Why does everything she says to Alan make it seem like I’m some kind of pervert?’

“Uh-huh. Some time for ‘himself’, all alone, right?” Erin smiled a little too innocently.

“He’s working himself into the ground,” Billy scowled, feeling a healthy dose of guilt over taking up so much of his friend’s time because he felt so clingy. He didn’t think he would ever see Alan again after jumping off the rail on Isla Sorna and it had really bothered him. He’d gotten anxious every time the older man hadn’t been within sight and it suddenly struck him that New York would be the farthest they’d been apart since a few heart-stopping moments back when they were seeing the Kirby family off at the hospital where Billy was going to stay for a few weeks to stabilize for the flight back to Montana.

His scowl grew fiercer at the raised eyebrow, clearly suggesting that “into the ground” was a loaded term.

Alan glanced at his watch and shook his head. “I’m going to have to figure out what to say to these people. Billy, I’ll see you later. Ms. Erickson,” he nodded at her as he passed.

They watched him walk down the hall and disappear from sight.

Billy smiled slightly as he sensed Erin’s look. “I’m fine, Blondie. No swooning here.”

“Uh huh.”

“He’s my best friend,” he lifted a shoulder, finally turning his gaze from Alan’s path. “I don’t want anything to change that.”

Erin sighed as her friend headed away from Grant’s destination. As a friend, she really wanted to push the idiot into at least coming to terms with his feelings.

As an outsider looking in…

It was just that much more difficult to not knock their heads together before locking them in a closet. She sincerely hoped that the adage of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ had some bearing here, because the first step for Billy to make in getting his life straight was coming to realize that what he was feeling toward Alan was so far past platonic it wasn’t funny.

Erin was really hoping this trip made Billy think about his reactions to Grant’s absence and the reasons behind them.

Knocking their heads together was looking more and more appealing.

** **

Laura Chapman stretched as she dropped onto her bed.

The Scholastic Decathlon was one of her dreams and she couldn’t wait for it to begin. This year, it was going to be in New York and she was studying extra hard for it.

Her friends Sam and Brian would be joining her and Laura hugged one of her pillows as she smiled widely. Brian was a good friend and she’d known him for a while. Though, she was kind of amazed that they’d gotten to know each other at all, what with all the running around he did as president for the different clubs he was in.

But while she was happy that Brian was going, she was even more delighted with having her crush going with them.

Sam was one of the smartest boys she knew. That was actually how she first noticed him. He was arguing with one of his classmates about their History class and … well, she didn’t really remember anything other than that.

Laura buried her face into the pillow she hugged to her.

There was just something about Sam that called to her and she just couldn’t say no.

Breathing deeply, Laura shoved her thoughts away from her crush and sat up. She had quite a few things to think about taking with her and the trip started in a short handful of days.

But even as she went downstairs for a snack first, she couldn’t help inwardly squealing at the thought of being with Sam in New York.

This was going to be a once in a lifetime adventure, she was sure.

Little did she know how right she would be.


	2. Chris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did everyone survive Friday the 13th? 
> 
> Happy Father's Day!

 

* * *

 

 

Chris Larabee was not exactly one of those people who had a sympathetic side.

He left that to his teammates Buck Wilmington and Josiah Sanchez, especially when faced with a broken hearted charge.

That being said, Chris sat back in his armchair as he watched this particular broken hearted charge study the fire burning in the fireplace in his living-room. With all but three of the legendary Team Seven in Europe and two of the remaining going to Los Angeles for a conference, Chris didn’t like the thought of sending his sniper, best friend and brother in all but blood to New York for a sharpshooter’s convention all by himself. Vin Tanner wasn’t someone who could be known as reckless, but the Texan’s attention was all on things unrelated to the upcoming convention and Chris – while not exactly _worried_ , per se – was concerned that this inattention could result in a serious accident.

The younger man took a deeper drink of his beer, eyes distant and attention miles away.

Chris didn’t know what exactly happened, but he did know that his younger friend had seen a common phrase as rejection and Chris himself was hard-pressed to argue against it since the phrase “I need time” was usually a rejection, but he knew better than to think it was written in stone. And it was even better to keep an open mind when dealing with one Ezra P. Standish, undercover agent extraordinaire.

Chris knew that the Southerner had a past he only made the barest of hints about – and he wasn’t one hundred percent certain that Vin’s was all that much better – and Chris was fairly certain that Ezra was only holding off on answering Vin because of it. Vin said that he understood – from what Chris got out of him – and it was a big shift from coworkers and friends to lovers, but Chris could still see heartache in Vin’s blue eyes.

“Sure you don’t want me or Josiah to come back early?”

Vin turned from the fire and shot him a smile. “Cowboy, I don’t plan on walkin’ off the bridge without ya, so don’t worry.”

Chris gave a nod, taking the weak joke as it was, and resumed watching him.

Buck had despaired over the Texan’s behavior, but everyone else understood that a person’s mind couldn’t be changed so easily with dinner and flowers. Especially when there was a good chance that there was a story behind the decision.

Vin sensed the blond’s gaze and huffed. “If I want to be stared at, I’ll just go see to the horses.” Blinking, he frowned. “Might not be such a bad idea, actually,” he levered himself up off the floor. “Peso’s been actin’ off. I’m gonna see if I cain’t get him to calm down enough so’s I don’t have ta worry about Yosemite takin’ care of him.”

Chris nodded and turned back to the fire, letting his ears track the younger man through the living room and into the kitchen to leave through the back door. He would have called the younger man out for changing the subject or ducking out, but he knew there was concern there – especially from that devil of an animal Vin called a horse.

Chris and Josiah were leaving the day after tomorrow for Los Angeles – with Vin leaving not that much later - and Yosemite – as was custom – was going to be looking in on the Team’s seven horses from time to time. The team leader trusted the other man and knew that the horses were going to be in safe hands, but that was under normal circumstances.

In the weeks leading up to this moment, however, the circumstances were anything but normal.

‘Normal’ meant that the horses weren’t testy – from pre-disposed to testiness Peso right down to sweet Lady -, were content with their lives at the Larabee Ranch and were quiet except under certain circumstances.

Lately, all of the horses seemed agitated, restless and wanting to run… somewhere far from the Ranch.

Chris had tried just about everything to figure it out. He didn’t think he ever would, especially since – situation with Ezra aside – Vin seemed to understand that the horses were sensing something and that the rest of them would have to wait like everyone else. The blond knew that animals could sense earthquakes and the like, but what could have spooked the horses this badly?

It was a long while before Chris got out of his armchair and headed toward the kitchen. He rinsed out his bottle and set it in the drainer, looking out the small window over the sink.

The silhouette of his friend was just in front of the tree in the middle of the distance from the house to the fence. Chris watched him stand there for a few minutes before Vin turned around and came back inside.

“Problem?”

Vin twisted his mouth. “Not entirely sure,” he admitted. “There ain’t nothin’ physically botherin’ them.”

Green eyes studied blue. “They sense something?”

“Yeah, I reckon they do at that. A big something. It’s in the air, too,” he gave an uneasy look back outside. “I don’t think I like the feelin’.”

“Maybe it ain’t California that needs to watch for an earthquake, huh?” the blond gave a smirk.

“Maybe,” Vin rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe.”

The Texan headed off to bed soon afterwards and Chris stepped outside for one last bout of fresh air. Going to stand in the place that his friend had stood in minutes earlier, green eyes scoured the horizon, catching a handful of falling stars streaking across the sky.

 It wasn’t until he turned to go back in that he realized something that had the hair raising on the back of his own neck.

For the decades he lived in Denver, he had never before stood in his yard and encountered such an absolute sense of silence as he was having at that very moment.

 


	3. Jack

 

* * *

 

 

He was going to die.

That’s all there was to it.

The plane was going to go down in a ball of flames – or something – and there would be no hope for him. It might decide to crash or –even worse and more nightmare inducing – fall apart mid-flight into little tiny pieces.

He wasn’t going to be missed for long, being one (average) citizen in a town of geniuses who more than likely would shake their heads at the news before getting dragged into a bunch of consuming projects.

His daughter would miss him, of course. Their newly built relationship was well worth the hard work they went through, on both of their parts.

His ex-wife may not really miss him, if at all. She might miss the chance to send Zoe off to someone that could be trusted to watch her.

Zane Donovan – funnily enough – could miss him. After the last year stuck together fixing problems, they sort of had a friendly relationship if nothing else. He still had no idea how that happened.

Allison Blake would miss him, if only because he came up with ideas to save the day.

Douglas Fargo would definitely miss him, if only because he was able to come up with life-saving ideas every time he was called in because a red button was pushed.

Henry Deacon – he hoped – would miss him, being his best friend and all.

Jo Lupo would … Actually, he didn’t know if she would miss him. It’s a long story. Starting with what may have happened last week with Fargo, Jim Taggart and vanilla pudding.

And lastly, the person Jack Carter wanted to miss him, Nathan Stark.

The brunet had been a thorn in his side for the first year. A remarkably attractive thorn, but one nonetheless.

In fact, it had been Jo herself that pointed out that the so-called competition with Stark over Allison seemed to be something of an effort on Jack’s part for Nathan’s attention.

It took Jack a long while, but he eventually came to accept it for truth. It would not do, however, for the scientist to know that. While Nathan’s attentions over Allison might have been cool as of late, that didn’t mean that the green eyed brunet hadn’t turned his eyes on another – no doubt – smart woman. What would Stark possibly see in a blond sheriff who’s IQ was probably a third of his?

Should Carter not actually be delusional enough to entertain the possibility, he wondered what Stark’s last memory of him might be.

Did the younger man have a favorite memory of him? Or would the Jack Carter remembered best and most clearly be the one of their very last encounter at GD?

…

…

…

Wait.

“Sheriff, I am by no means belittling your acrophobia, but I would prefer that you kindly refrain from having a panic attack when you _have yet to leave my office.”_

A blue eye pried open to see Allison, Fargo, Nathan and Zane watching him from the conference table. Opening the other eye, he turned and gave Henry a sheepish look, the mechanic crouching next to him.

“Right. Sorry.”

“No, no,” Henry – dear, sweet best friend that he was, always humoring the ‘average’ Sheriff – shook his head, patting his arm gently. “Don’t be. It’s understandable that the idea of getting off the ground for any length of time is daunting to you, and I hate to make it worse by asking you to fly all the way to New York by yourself, but – ”

“No, I told you I would get your machine part and I will,” Jack sucked in a breath. “It won’t be easy, but I’ll do my best for my friends.”

“We really do need that part,” Fargo added, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “It’s –”

“Tell me what it does when I get back,” he cut the younger man off before he ended up with a headache he didn’t need.

“Shouldn’t you and Dr. Blake be on your way to the airport?” Zane frowned, checking his watch. “Your flight leaves in a few hours.”

“We were just wrapping up here,” Allison assured them. “We have time to get there. Nathan, we’re using your car, correct? I have things in my car and I know that Carter has things in his.”

“I’ll do it,” Jack volunteered, hauling himself up out of his chair. “It’ll take my mind off my impending death.”

“You aren’t going to die, Carter,” Nathan rolled his eyes as he dug around in his pockets for his car keys. “The odds of a plane going down due to turbulence are on an astronomical level."

“Do you think my belittled phobia knows that?” he shot back, grabbing the keys out of the other’s hand.

Allison smiled reassuringly at him as she gave him her own keys. “We’ll be fine, Carter. And when we fly back home, I will let you hold my hand.”

“Assuming we live to make it back,” he grumbled, grateful for the support offered. There was no doubt in his mind that he would take her up on that.

He slunk out of the office amidst Zane’s snickers and started whistling as he made his way down the stairs leading to the lobby.

He glanced around, flying fears put aside for now, at the bustling crowd of scientists streaming in and out of the giant space. All of them were at least semi-familiar to him by now and some greeted him while others just nodded a hello on their way past.

He had just paused to ask after Dr. Hern’s … armadillo… thing… that he’d found in his office and returned to the frantic redhead a few days ago, when he was almost run over by a group of what Jack recognized as environmental scientists streaking past as if their tails were on fire.

“Alright, Carter?” Hern steadied him with a hand on his elbow.

“What in the world is their problem?” he stared after them, brow furrowed.

“Going to the labs, probably,” another scientist shrugged.

“I heard there’s some sort of virus that’s been screwing with their instruments,” another sniffed. “Sheriff, you might want to look into sabotage when you get back.”

“Why would someone want to sabotage the _environmentalists_?” the first raised a brow. “I can name three other departments off the top of my head that’s more of a decent target.”

“Maybe it’s a way to get to the rest of us,” the second countered.

“What kind of virus is it?” Jack turned to Hern, tuning out the oft-heard argument of the second scientist’s irrational scorn for their ‘soft’ department. “Nothing really serious, I hope.”

“Oh, never you mind,” the man smoothed his goatee. “It’s probably something that’s gotten into the control panel or a faulty wire or something in the program that’s causing the readings to go crazy. Although,” he glanced up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Polar ice is melting incredibly fast. Did you hear about the state-sized bit that broke off the Larsen B Ice Shelf a week and change ago? Insane. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when global warming is involved, and it’s bound to get worse as time goes on.”

“Yeah, and speaking of global warming,” a third scientist – one that Jack adored playing Monopoly with if only for the entertainment of watching him yelling at the board before deciding to make their own rules, but Jack could never remember how to pronounce his actual name so he’d started calling him Dr. Zelenka since it sounded similar ( and then found out that was the name of the man’s favorite science fiction character – which explained the pleased puffing up when referred to as such)- piped in. “Did you hear about the Global Warming conference in New Delhi? Snow! Imagine!”

Jack eventually managed to slip away to get back to his intended destination and he waved to others he knew because of one of Fargo’s button-pushing impulses or some other such GD crisis of the week as he went.

Managing to get to Allison’s car first, he sighed as he saw that she, he and Nathan had all parked quite a distance from each other and resolved to do his self-appointed job all by himself.

He was digging in Allison’s trunk to be sure he got everything when he heard the familiar chugging of one of Eureka’s most unforgettable characters.

Popping his head up, he let a grin appear on his face as Taggart pulled up to a neighboring spot.

“Tag! Come to see me off?”

“Sheriff!” the other man immediately hopped down from his jeep (“Tank, more like,” Zane quipped the first time he laid eyes on it.) and grabbed the blond in a bear hug. “Off to DC, then?”

“Yeah, for a little while,” he nodded. “I have to run an errand for Henry in New York, though.”

“Allison’s leaving you to travel alone?” the survivalist, face covered in camouflage paint, frowned in his defense.

“Well, thought we’d split up,” Jack lifted a shoulder. “Her to her meeting and me to NYC. No reason for us both to go when one is enough.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Tag nodded. He looked over the blond’s shoulder and grinned. “Need some assistance packing the kitchen sink with you?”

“Not the kitchen sink, but the help will be great. I’m moving all my stuff and Allison’s into Stark’s car.”

“So, the mysterious Dr. Stark is dropping you off,” he side-eyed the Sheriff with a knowing smile.

Jack never rued the day they got drunk together in the Smart House so much as he did in that moment. “Don’t start,” he glared.

“No comment,” he winked. “Well,” he clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly. “Let’s get this done and you on your way, aye?”

Tag was such a big help that they were both done not even twenty minutes later.

Jack settled against Nathan’s car and watched their surroundings as Taggart settled next to him. It was nearing lunchtime by now, so it wasn’t unusual to see Global Dynamics personnel coming and going to and from town or, more likely, Café Diem.

“Er, say, Carter…”

Blue eyes swung over to see Tag fiddling with his jacket zipper. It wasn’t that usual to see him so … fidgety, like he’d been doing for a few minutes now. “Yeah?”

“On your trip… Do you think you can keep an eye out for me?” he turned beseeching eyes on the blond. “I wouldn’t normally ask, but you wouldn’t laugh – very hard, I mean – and I would normally take care of it myself. You see, lately, the animals have been acting off in a way that I can only take as a warning.”

Jack straightened. “A warning of what?”

“That would be the question, wouldn’t it?” Tag shook his head. “I know a lot of others don’t believe that animals can sense things, but they _do_. I’ve seen it. It’s something eerie that you don’t soon forget. Earthquakes happen in places where there’ve been reports of animals behaving oddly several hours beforehand, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides, you name it. And this behavior is what I’ve been observing for the past few days and it’s only gotten worse. The lab rabbits? All cowering in their cages and distressed beyond all possible logic. The birds? Gone. Each and every one. There’ve been a decrease in snakes and I haven’t heard so much as a peep from a single cricket. There’s something afoot, Sheriff, and I don’t much care for it.”

Jack looked around.

Tag was right.

The birds that would normally hang around the light poles hoping for a forgotten crumb of food were eerily absent. The song he was used to hearing from the trees had been silenced. It suddenly made him uneasy.

“And what do you want me to do?” he turned back to see a serious look on the otherwise … unserious face.

“Keep an eye on the animals,” he said simply. “Pay attention to their behavior. I don’t claim to know how far this spreads, but I’d like some idea.”

So, basically, Tag was asking him to be some sort of spy and report back? There was a possibility that Jack was thinking it to be more exciting than it actually was, but he couldn’t help imagining himself with a trench coat and fedora sneaking around corners to spy on the local pigeon population to see how they behaved.

It was a ridiculous mental image, partly because there was no sneaking involved when the city was filled with birds flying every which way, but it also made him feel like he was important somehow.

Which was a feat when everyone around him seemed to know how to take care of themselves, excluding a few notable exceptions, but apart from the world saving, he mostly wondered why they even had a Sheriff’s office to begin with or why they couldn’t just let Jo run the office. He did, however, enjoy living in both his bunker and the town and couldn’t imagine uprooting to live anywhere else.

Jack came back to himself and smiled at Tag. “Hourly reports, even.”

Tag smiled back in relief. “I’ll miss you, Sheriff,” he wrapped an arm around him. “One of the only ones here who believes me and he’ll be a world away.” He gave a watery sniff and took out a blue jay embroidered hankie to blow his nose into.

“I’m just going to be gone for a week, Tag,” Jack uneasily patted the hand dangling next to his shoulder. “Not forever.”

“It’ll seem like it,” he blubbered into his handkerchief as he dragged the blond closer.

“Making people cry already, Carter?”

He directed a scowl at the amused drawl as Nathan and Allison entered his line of vision. “He’ll miss me,” he retorted, protectively leaning against his friend.

“I would have cried tears of joy,” Nathan deadpanned, Allison whacking him on the arm in response.

“It’s alright, Tag,” she turned to the older scientist and squeezed his shoulder gently. “Carter’ll be back before you know it.”

It took a few minutes of effort, but Tag was finally convinced to release the blond and stood to the side with Fargo – who had followed them out – still sobbing into his hankie as they drove past.

Jack turned to look out the back window as they left Global Dynamics behind for Eureka. As much as he hated leaving Tag still upset, he hated leaving Henry in the lurch even more, so to the Big Apple Jack would go.

But, as they drove through town, Jack caught sight of the statue of Archimedes just outside of his office.

When he had seen the normally bird laden monument without its usual coat of feathers earlier that morning, Jack hadn’t thought anything of it. Maybe, except, that it looked kind of lonely.

Now, however, as Taggart’s words flooded back to him, a shiver raced up his spine and he shivered.

He felt a foreboding drift on the edge of his consciousness and it was difficult to shake off as they neared the airport.

But then, it could also be because of his aversion to flying instead of the absence of animal life in the usually teeming forest.

It was eerie, sure, but what if something else was telling the animals to scram? It didn’t need to be weather related as Tag had told him.

Right? I mean, after all…

What could possibly _happen_?

** *


	4. And So It Begins

 

* * *

 

 

Jack yawned as he poured a cup of coffee for himself in Allison’s hotel room.

Having slept on the couch, he was more than ready to face his upcoming flight by himself.

(If he just kept telling himself that the plane wasn’t going to drop from the sky mid-flight and that Henry was going to have to fly cross-country for his machine doohickey himself the next time.)

Allison watched sympathetically as she finished getting herself ready for her first afternoon conference. “You’ll be fine, Carter, I promise.”

“I’d like to believe you,” he breathed deeply. The blond was grateful that she was understanding of his issues – which had _nothing_ to do with the Easter Incident of last year, no matter what Jo told anyone, and had been plaguing him for far longer than that – and didn’t try rationalizing what his mind would reject as truth anyway.

She gave him a wan smile before returning to her room and Jack decided to get his mind off things by switching on the television.

With an hour to go before he had to go to the airport, he relaxed on the couch and put his mind off the flight to and from New York by flipping through channels.

Seeing a favorite commercial that he rarely saw, he settled for one of the FOX news channels and leant back to sip at his coffee and nibble on his toast.

Once the commercial ended, however, he almost spat both right back out when the breaking news story came on.

“What the…”

The images on screen flashed by him in a horrifying montage of a Japanese city being bombarded with pieces of ice softball-sized and _bigger_. The damage was incredible as the camera panned around the section of street the camera found itself in.

_“Last night, a thunderstorm that should not have been anything extraordinary hit the island nation of Japan. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Hail unlike anything the Chiyoda District has ever seen poured down with a fury only seen in the Midwestern Plains of the United States. This unprecedented event …”_

Jack shook his head slowly as the reporter continued his report. “This is unbelievable,” he rubbed a hand over his face. Sure, he didn’t know much about weather, but even he knew that hail coming from a rainstorm was unusual. Especially that type of hail in Japan, which didn’t really get that size of hail even _with_ hail being forecast.

“Carter, we should get going,” Allison told him as she came back out. “The plane…” she trailed off as she followed his disbelieving gaze to the television set. “I thought Zane was kidding,” she murmured, raising her eyebrows.

“I think it’s safe to say that Zane was _not_ kidding,” he flinched as he saw blanket covered bodies in the street.

“But this kind of weather is very unusual,” she rubbed her forehead as the reporter drew attention to dents in cars.

Be that as it may, only one explanation came to mind when Jack really thought about it:

“ _Fargo_.”

“No,” Allison snorted. “Fargo had nothing to do with this. I promise he had nothing to do with this. We banned him from that section and weather experiments after… well. I’m sure you don’t need a reminder.”

The Avalanche Incident was to never be mentioned when connected with the date of Friday the Thirteenth – and especially around one Jack Carter – unless one wanted to be dangled over a bridge via rope.

Nathan Stark would happily assist.

Jack would be the first to admit his overreaction was a little extreme the first time, but it got the point across.

“Well, as long as we’re sure.”

“This also can’t be anything resulting from any of our experiments, because…” she looked like she was going to go on, but there was apparently too much to explain to a scientist who already knew something about it never mind having to explain to someone who didn’t really know much to begin with. “Well, it’s not.” She looked at her watch and shook her head. “We really do need to go.”

“Right,” he nodded, draining his coffee. Jack took a deep breath and stood as Allison turned off the television.

No matter what would happen in the coming days, nothing could possibly be as bad as those poor people in Japan.

** *

“Alan! What’s wrong? Is everything alright? I can be on the next flight out,” Billy raced through the student quad heading for the older man’s office.

“ ** _Nothing_** _is wrong, Billy_ ,” his best friend huffed a sigh into his ear. “ _I just wanted to see how everything’s doing over there._ ”

“Oh,” he slowed his manic race and slowly came to a stop in the middle of a path. “Well… Ev-everything’s doing well. Nothing’s burned down without you, yet.”

“ _Good_.”

Billy let his eyes close as they breathed through a silence, students streaming past him on their way to and from classes.

It had been a nerve-wracking week without Alan there to buffer him and he was seriously considering punching the smarmy jerk of their university president’s son. When Alan was present, Billy could shamelessly hide behind him without second thought. Erin had told him that hiding behind his crush and making it seem like he and Alan were dating at times was probably sending mixed signals to the older man.

Billy had scoffed and denied having a crush on anyone, never mind Alan.

But…

Billy really did like Alan and he did seem like he was going through some kind of withdrawal as the others joked when not seeing the man every day.

“So, did you do anything interesting on your last day of actual work?”

“ _Went to that bar down the street_ ,” came the answer. “ _Nice place_.”

“But decent fries?” he smiled and went to lean up against the building next to him. Alan swore that the Pub – the actual name long forgotten – had the best fries he’d had yet.

“Well, of a sort, sure.”

Billy snorted and breathed in. “Haven’t punched anyone yet.”

“ _Good_ ,” Alan’s smile was evident in his voice. “ _I wanted first shot at him_.”

There was a reason that Billy made sure Alan was around when Jerk was near.

About a month before that whole Isla Sorna Debacle started, Jeremy “Jerk” Coldwell had cornered Billy and was making unwanted advances toward him. Somehow – and Billy never did get a straight answer out of him - , Alan had appeared just when Billy was getting on the thin side of patience and told Jerk in no uncertain terms that “if you don’t get away from Brennan and _stay_ there, I’ll make sure that the next set of bones my students will dig up are _yours_.”

After that, Billy saw a decrease of Jerk that was helped along by Alan’s continuous presence after Sorna.

It also didn’t hurt that the surrounding Business majors who witnessed the entire affair disliked Jerk as much as Billy and, when asked about Alan threatening anyone, denied that there was a threat made.

“Don’t worry,” Billy smiled slightly. “I won’t steal your chance. Hurry back, though, before I have a chance to change my mind.”

“ _Alright, but I should remind you that you were, in fact, the one who sent me on this extra week claiming it was for my health_.”

“And it _is_ good for you to not work so much, I told you,” he insisted. “Just, I kind of wish I was there with you right now.”

That was _not_ something that a best friend would say. Especially not with that tone.

Billy stared mortified across the quad as his mind raced over what he could say to diffuse the situation. Should he laugh it off? This was Alan, though. The man was smart, but there were certain… shall we say ‘social issues’ that usually went over his head.

And Billy hadn’t wanted Alan to know about his ridiculous hero worship turned crush before either it dissipated on its own or he was good and ready for him to know.

“ _I kind of wish you were here, too_.”

“…Really?” His heart wasn’t sure whether to stop in shock or beat double time.

“ _Yeah. Something tells me you and this kid I’ve somehow adopted would get along like a house on fire_.” The smile he was wearing translated down the line to make Billy smile in response.

“Anyone I know?”

“ _Nah. Cowboy’s from Denver, here for a conference. And he’s certainly got a sense of humor on him_.”

“Prankster, huh?” Billy knew some of the undergrads pulled pranks, especially during exam week. Billy laughed himself sick before actually getting attacked by overgrown flying lizards after the thought of one exam week in particular that Alan denied any participation in, but Billy knew he had something to do with it. How he’d managed to get Anthro and Bio majors in on it, though, would probably forever be a mystery.

“ _Sworn to secrecy, I’m afraid. You’ll have to ask him how he did it. Heaven knows, I’ll probably never look at sticky buns the same way again_.”

He choked on a laugh. Grumbly, he might be, but Billy could tell that Alan was fond of the guy already. “I’ll have to meet him someday, then.”

“ _Probably sooner than you might think. Evidently, one of his teammates – the youngest, I think – is a fan of mine_.”

Billy really did burst out laughing at that. Alan would then feel obligated to meet this fan because of Cowboy’s relationship with him. “I’m in!”

“ _Who said you were invited?_ ”

“Like you would take a trip to Denver without me,” he scoffed.

Silence. Then, “ _No, I wouldn’t_.”

The warmth from that was ridiculous, but Billy couldn’t help relishing the feeling when it appeared. Especially when Alan was the instigator.

“Well,” he cleared his throat. “I should probably get grading.”

“ _Happy reading_ ,” the low chuckle in his ear made a shiver run down his spine to connect to the ball of warmth circulating in his stomach.

“When you’re drinking a beer, please think of me,” he deadpanned.

“ _I’ll buy you a real one when I get back_.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

Billy signed off a few minutes later with a sigh. He felt better for some reason after having talked with Alan. Like… a weight was taken off his shoulders.

Shaking his head at himself, he resumed his trek and was about to enter the building when he spied one of the juniors looking slightly apprehensive near the elevators.

“Misha? Hey! Haven’t seen you for a few days,” Billy ambled over with a grin. The golden haired Arts Major smiled back uneasily. “Everything alright?”

“Uh… Not really,” she shook her head. She was playing with her Star of David necklace – something she only did when she was nervous but uncertain how to voice her troubles. “I… You know about the rabbit escape?”

“Oh, yeah,” he nodded. Sometime during the last three days, the campus rabbits – a social thing involving rabbits and self-confidence with the freshman class – had all flown the coop. The resident population of birds had also disappeared and Billy had been slightly unnerved at the silence left in their wake. Campus wildlife was usually slightly active – with grasshoppers if nothing else – and to have silence permeate where noise reined was incredibly unsettling. “What about it?”

“I think I’ve been having… Dreams. You know the ones. And, I know that we recently started the semester, but, I kind of really want to not be here. And with the animals gone and – and everything… I don’t feel right.”

Misha Halper was not one to joke about dreams. Billy learned the hard way about listening to her. One such incident was Isla Sorna, but he had thought it was about something else completely. As a freshman, she had said something to him in an off the cuff manner and both he and Alan had ended up drenched in paint because he had overlooked the Lucky Cat statue and he’d caught sight of it as they were apologetically escorted outside to be hosed down.

 Misha had proven to have some kind of psychic abilities, so when she started saying something like this, he tended to listen with a grain of salt.

“So… you don’t want to be on campus?”

“I don’t want to be in _Montana_ ,” she shook her head. “I don’t know, Billy,” she sighed, looking around them. “I feel like something’s on the way and we need to leave.”

“Well, unless you want to start an uprising,” he shrugged. The President wasn’t going to listen to anyone without proof backing up a large-scale evacuation and even then he would probably believe it when it was too little too late. “What are you suggesting?”

“I don’t _know_! I just want to get away from here.”

“Alright, alright,” he squeezed her arm gently. “Just… think on it and let me know if the feeling gets even worse.”

That was really all they could do right now. Billy wouldn’t even pretend to know how she felt right now, but they really didn’t have very much to go on at this point.

“What if it does?” she whispered, fear in her deep brown eyes.

“We’ll figure something out,” he whispered back. “I’ll order an evacuation myself if I have to.”

As she reluctantly headed off to her class, he rubbed his mouth. He had a duty to the students and staff at the school and if Misha wanted to run, he would encourage everyone to run after her.

Right now, though, they really did have nothing to go on. Billy just hoped that whatever was apparently coming, Alan would be safe.

** * **


	5. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I took creative liberties here - as I'm sure you can tell. I honestly doubt there is a cafe in LaGuardia.

 

* * *

 

 

Laura tapped her floppy hat impatiently as she waited for Sam and Brian.

Thinking about the competition was making her nervous, so she thought about the sights in New York and going there with Sam. Unfortunately, thinking about her crush and all the time she would probably end up spending with him made her even more nervous, because she was kind of scared that she would blurt out something and she knew she would most likely die of embarrassment if that something happened to be indicative of her crush on him and he would probably laugh at her or nicely turn her down and she wasn’t sure what would be worse!

She took a deep breath and leaned her head back against the headrest of the chair she found herself in, trying to keep her stomach in one place. She was honestly sure she would probably throw up at this point.

“You look about as nervous as I feel,” a voice had her picking her head up to look at a blond man with sparkling blue eyes a few seats down from her across the aisle. “You scared of flying, too?”

She blinked at him before slowly shaking her head. “No,” she swallowed. “I’m actually going to be in a competition hosted by Pinehurst Academy.”

“I think I’d rather be in a competition than on a plane, myself, at this point,” he muttered, running a hand through his short blond hair. “Uh, hi. Name’s Jack Carter,” he smiled widely, holding his hand out for a shake.

“Laura. Laura Chapman,” she took it and noticed his firm grip. “You don’t have to be nervous,” she offered, their hands falling from their clasp. “The chances of turbulence –”

“Yeah, well, those two hundred to one odds or so aren’t doing much to help,” he shook his head. “One of the scientists I’m forced to hang out with sometimes explained it to me. Extensively. I’m under the impression that graphs and charts weren’t part of the presentation solely because we were in the car and he was driving.”

Laura nodded slightly. Talking to someone seemed to be driving her nerves away. “What do you do? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I used to be in the Marshals Service before I ended up in Oregon as a small town Sheriff,” he shrugged. “Not much to look at, but I’m definitely never bored.”

“Well, that’s good,” she smiled. “It can’t be good to be bored all the time.”

“Sometimes, I kind of wish I was,” he chuckled. “If you only knew what calls I’ve had to deal with in the past.”

Laura could see that talking seemed to calm him down, as well, from his apprehension at being on a plane. “Are you by yourself?” she looked around, but he was the only one near and he didn’t seem to be waiting for someone else.

“Well, I flew here with my friend Allison, but she has this thing and I promised my best friend that I would do him a favor and he better make it worth my while. If this plane goes down, I am going to haunt him for life.”

She felt a laugh bubbling up. “I’m sure he will. That’s what best friends are supposed to do, after all.”

“He’ll find me a nice, _normal_ bank robbery if he knows what’s good for him,” he muttered. “So, what about you? By yourself or with friends?”

Deciding she probably didn’t want to know, she let that first sentence slide. “I’m waiting for Sam and Brian right now. They should be getting here soon. We’re doing the Scholastic Decathlon.”

“Oh, one of those trivia things?” he tilted his head. “You know, my daughter Zoe could probably wipe the floor with half the competition there. She’s really smart. Kind of like you, I’m thinking.”

“I don’t know about that,” she demurred, flushing slightly at the praise.

“Well, she’s a smart kid. I should know. I know by looking at you that you are, too. Your folks must be really proud of you.”

“I like to think they are,” she lifted a shoulder. True, they both told her and showed her how proud she made them, but lately, she found that she didn’t only want to make her teachers and family proud. One day, she kind of decided that she wanted to make Sam proud of her, too. This was, of course, just a silly dream as a result of her crush. She didn’t think it was possible as a purely friendship thing, not with him.

She looked up to see him study her.

“I hate to say this, but when I divorced my ex, Zo turned into someone that I didn’t think I could be very proud of. Being a Marshal probably made it worse, because, in a way, I think that I regret not spending as much time with her as I should have. Being a Sheriff was probably the best thing to happen to the both of us, because I could be in her life more and she started growing into a bright young woman that I don’t have to constantly have to supervise.”

“That doesn’t mean that you don’t want to keep supervising, though, right?” she smiled warmly at him, thinking of Sam and his father. For as long as she knew Sam, she’d always gotten the feeling that he wished his dad was there more.

“Yeah, well,” he waved a hand. “It’s what dads do, you know?”

Her own father knew she was a young adult and tried to keep his ‘mothering’ to a minimum with her. Most of the time, he succeeded. “Yeah. But I think that, even though she might complain a little, she’s really glad to have your attention.”

“She might complain about having _too_ much,” he grinned. “But, as Stark said once, ‘better too much than not enough’. I didn’t push; sounded like there was a story there.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence before Laura glanced at her watch.

“I have a few more minutes before the boys get here. Do you… want to get a hot chocolate? It might settle our nerves.”

He looked surprised, but nodded eagerly. “Sure. I could go for a drink, yeah.”

Sam and Brian found them almost fifteen minutes later, both arriving at the same time to see Laura and Carter (“Because everyone just calls me by my last name. At this point,” he smiled wryly, “I might think someone was on their deathbed if they start calling me Jack.”) bent over his wallet and looking at pictures of Zoe Carter when she was a little girl.

“Hey, Laura,” Brian set his stuff down next to them. “Who’s your new best friend?”

“Brian, Sam, this is Carter,” she smiled up at them. “He’s a Sheriff and we were just talking about his daughter.”

“She means I’m this close to throwing up from nerves and decided to head that off at the pass by distracting me with my own daughter,” he grinned at them.

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” she smiled smugly. It also cured her nerves as well.

“Looks like it,” Sam held his hand out to Carter. “Sam Hall.”

“Brian Parks.”

Once they settled down, Laura finished her drink and checked the time. “Our flight should be boarding pretty soon,” she announced.

“Where to?” Carter started returning his pictures to his wallet.

“New York City,” Sam offered.

“Really?” he looked up at him, before glancing at the other two. “That’s exactly where I’m going! What are the odds of that?”

Brian was about to open his mouth when Sam rolled his eyes. “Don’t answer that, Bri. It was rhetorical.”

“He would answer, too,” Laura grinned. “Mr. Math Club, Chess Club and Electronics Club President.”

He gave a modest shrug. “What else should I be doing with my time?”

“Not getting migraines?” Carter had to ask. “Stark – one of the guys I run into at work and about the town – sometimes has them. My Deputy has to threaten him with hiding his laptop when it gets bad.”

“I was always under the impression that some kind of weapon would be involved in threatening someone,” Sam mused.

“We tried,” he said flatly. “It didn’t work.”

He refused to elaborate.

It wasn’t too long after that their plane was called. They gathered their things and headed over to the boarding area.

“Don’t worry, Carter,” Laura gave him a reassuring squeeze on the arm. “It’ll be fine. And when you get back, you’ll meet your friend Allison and then you can fly home to your best friend, who will find you the biggest bank robbery that you could possibly imagine.”

“I won’t even arrest anyone,” he breathed deeply. “It’s the least Henry could do.”

“Exactly.”

“Bank robbery?” Brian frowned at her. Laura shrugged in response.

The quartet entered the plane and found the seats that Laura and the two boys would be in.

“Uh, looks like I’m back there,” the blond nodded to his seat.

“You’ll be fine, Carter,” she reiterated. “See you when we land.”

“If,” he muttered, giving them an uneasy look as he headed back down the aisle.

Laura turned to the boys. “Sam, do you want the window seat?”

“Uh, no, you – you can,” he lifted a shoulder. “I’m fine with the aisle.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “Brian?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Laura took the middle seat and settled in, pulling her study book out for the flight. Sam seemed uneasy as he settled into his seat and immediately asked for some peanuts.

Laura sighed as she relaxed into her seat and turned her attention to her studies to keep her from thinking too much about the fact that Sam was right next to her.

** **

Some rows behind Laura, Sam and Brian, Jack was slowly relaxing as the flight commenced and nothing happened. Maybe he was going to make it in one piece from this.

He leaned back in his seat and breathed deep as he pictured a relaxing, relatively calm day back in Eureka. He would haunt Café Diem and hang out with Henry and maybe drop in at Global Dynamics when not being dragged off into the woods with Taggart.

He pictured the GD atrium and Fargo, Zane and Allison clustered over tablets and Nathan – with bright green eyes – would stand in his office overlooking them all.

Jack was so calmed by the image – certain that it had happened before – that he barely realized when the plane entered into a thunderstorm filled cloud bank.

His blue eyes slid back open at an attendant’s touch and he smiled, completely calm, as he accepted the water she handed to him.

The plane shook and shuddered around him as he sipped at his water. He had been vehemently assured by Laura, Allison, Stark and – in his own sarcastic way – Zane. Nothing was going to happen to him and quite honestly, beside the weather, he honestly found himself enjoying the flight.

Why hadn’t he done this before?

Glancing down the aisle, he spied Laura and her friends near the front of the cabin. Poor Sam was shoveling peanuts into his mouth and Jack found himself wanting his own little bag. Just because he was starting to become comfortable with the idea of flying didn’t mean he still wasn’t experiencing a few leftover nerves.

In fact, he was about to order some peanuts when a blonde stewardess, probably the boss attendant, came over and started pointing to the back. The blonde then returned to the front as the pilot came over the intercom.

“ _Uh, folks, it appears we’re gonna have a little bit of a bumpy ride here for the next few minutes. We’d ask that you please fasten your seatbelts and put your tray tables and seat backs in their upright positions until we get through this. Thank you._ ”

Jack drained his water before putting on his seatbelt. The pilot said they would have a bumpy ride. Okay. He could handle that for the next little bit. Turbulence couldn’t be helped, after all.

He breathed, trying to combat the nerves hovering under the surface, and it took a moment for him to remember that four people explained to him how impossible it was for a plane to tear into itsy bits of debris in the middle of a flight.

It took less than that for him to come to one utterly undeniable conclusion:

They _lied_.

His previously calm exterior just as calmly flew out of his head as the plane dipped violently enough to send the food cart racing down the aisle toward the head stewardess, almost taking Sam out in the process as the young man immediately ducked his head out of the way.

The plane shuddered and Jack was almost certain that the plane was about to be ripped into pieces. His heart stopped and Jack couldn’t be sure if it flew into his throat or dropped to his stomach as the plane dipped even more violently again. At that point, a few of the overhead compartments sprung open and luggage started flying around the cabin as the two stewardesses taking refuge in the back tried closing the closest ones, but to no avail.

The plane’s rocking sent duffle bags soaring around and hitting passengers until the pilots managed to steer through the turbulence and everything calmed down a few seconds later.

Jack couldn’t bring himself to pry his hands off the armrests and jumped out of his skin when the oxygen masks finally dropped down. His racing heart didn’t show the slightest hint of slowing down until the plane touched down onto the tarmac of LaGuardia International Airport.

He was immediately up and joining Sam and a few others as they quickly disembarked, though they didn’t quite run off the plane like Jack was pretty sure some wanted to. Finding a spot a little bit away from the ramp, he shivered as he put his back against the wall. His shaking legs finally gave out and he slid down onto the floor, happy to be stationary and on the ground.

“Well,” Laura smiled a little too widely to have been natural as she stopped in front of him. “That was exciting.”

“I think I saw my life flash before my eyes,” Brian muttered, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor next to Jack. Sam slid down to the floor on Jack’s other side and ran a shaking hand down his face.

“It wasn’t that horrible,” she lifted a shoulder as she sat down next to Brian.

“In what reality?” Jack scoffed, suddenly feeling his phone vibrate. He dug into his pocket and saw the caller. “Yeah, Fargo? Forget the damn return flight; I’m _walking_ back to Eureka.”

 _“And hello to you, too, Carter,”_ Nathan drawled. “ _Got there in one piece, I take it.”_

“Stark, where’s Fargo? I’m not talking to you right now. The plane almost dropped from the sky and near took us down with it!”

“ _Now, Carter, I understand your adrenalin rush is in full swing, but there’s no need to –”_

“If the next word out of your mouth is ‘exaggerate’, I’m going to…,” he paused, thinking about what to threaten him with. “I’m going to eviscerate you after I get back and shove your phone down your throat!”

“ _Big words, Sheriff_.”

“Nice,” Sam offered. Jack smiled brightly at him before rolling his eyes.

“Seriously, Stark. What did you do to Fargo? Am I going to come back to a report of a body buried in a shallow grave dug in the woods outside of town?”

_“… Thought hard about that, did you.”_

Jack vaguely noticed the trio exchanging looks as he scowled at nothing and wished the infuriating scientist was there so the blond could hit him. “I’m still not talking to you.”

_“Jack?”_

“Oh, hey, Henry,” he huffed a sigh. “Fargo disappeared. I think Stark had something to do with it.”

 _“No, he didn’t,”_ the mechanic laughed. _“Fargo’s off trying to find out why half the environmental experiments are showing readings that shouldn’t be possible. As far as any of the rest of us can tell, everything’s in perfect working order.”_

“Yeah, well, I’m about to start heading out. Did you need something else?”

_“Nah. I’ll let you know where to meet my supplier and when.”_

“I’ll be keeping an ear out,” he rubbed his face. “Talk to you soon. And tell Stark I’ll be checking in with Fargo later.”

 _“I’m terrified,”_ the scientist drawled. _“There goes my homicidal plot.”_

“I’m still not talking to you,” he cheerfully shot back. He hung up before the other man could respond.

“Do you and Mr. Stark always interact like that?” Laura had to ask amidst her snickering.

“Dr. Stark, and yeah. Why?”

She just shook her head and laughed.

Something about her laughter just made Jack start grinning as Brian shook his head. It didn’t take long until all of them were laughing. He couldn’t be entirely sure, but Jack suspected that their laughter had a hysterical edge to it once he started to get over the fact that he had nearly died on the plane.

Whether that was true or not, he felt a lot better having gotten that out of his system.

They eventually calmed down and levered themselves up off the floor and headed to the baggage area to claim their bags.

They had sandwiches at the little café inside the airport and looked through the gift shop. Brian bought a map of the city and the four of them stood in an out of the way corner to study it.

“Looks like we’ll be going the same direction,” Sam pointed out, reading the map over Laura’s shoulder. “Why not just share a cab with us?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Brian agreed.

That decided, they made for the cab pick-up areas and soon piled into one.

Jack had never before had cause to visit New York City and couldn’t help pestering the taxi driver with questions, but the driver didn’t seem to mind, going on about famous areas or the best restaurants in the city.

Sometimes, one of the three in the back piped up with a comment or question, but the four were content with letting the driver talk.

They passed over the Brooklyn Bridge and it didn’t take them long until they hit their first bout of traffic.

Having noticed Laura keeping an eye on the time, Jack looked out of his window and sighed. “Well,” he looked back with a smile. “Looks like this is my stop.”

“But we’re not there, yet,” Laura protested.

“Yeah, but I don’t want you guys to be late getting to your competition. Drop me off here and you can get going.”

Laura didn’t seem at all happy about leaving him on his own and he felt warm knowing that she already seemed to like him enough to not want him to go to the trouble. But, their reason for being here was much more important than his.

He paid the driver for getting him this far, gathered his two bags and was surprised and pleased when the trio got out to bid him a good-bye.

“It was nice meeting you, Carter,” Sam shook his hand.

“Yeah, man,” Brian clasped his hand. “Take it easy on the way home.”

Laura gave him a hug. “It’s been really nice hanging out with you,” she pulled away with a smile. “Tell Zoe she’s a lucky girl and don’t be too hard on your best friend or Dr. Stark when you get home.”

“I’ll do that,” he squeezed her arm. Sighing as he looked at the three in front of him, he smiled widely. “Take care on the way home. Who knows,” he shrugged, his bags at his feet and hands in his pockets. “Maybe we’ll run into each other again someday.”

“I can’t speak for them,” Laura smiled back, eyes a little watery as they said good-bye to a new friend. “But I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Yeah,” he watched them climb back into the cab. “Look out for a plane crash on its way to Oregon.”

“You’ll be _fine_ , Carter!”

“Good luck,” he smiled as the cab doors shut. “Knock ’em dead!” he smiled again and waved a good-bye as the taxi pulled away from the curb. He nodded to himself and hoisted his duffle up on his shoulder as he struck out on the sidewalk toward the Dewdrop Hotel with his other bag in hand.

It was a fifteen story affair that wasn’t built of glass, but of a sturdier construction of stones and brick. Jack noticed that not every room had windows and was thankful for that consideration for some of the more height-wary guests. The Dewdrop was said to be able to withstand a category five hurricane, but there had yet to be one to strike the Big Apple and Jack was pretty sure that the overcast skies above didn’t constitute a challenge at all.

Every fifth floor, there was a deli area that served free breakfast in the morning and a complimentary lunch in the afternoon. Snacks and drinks were always available and there was a rooftop deck that could be rented out for parties, weddings, or other types of events. There was a big lunch area on the thirteenth floor with widescreen televisions mounted between huge double paned windows and small lounges for every floor.

Going up fifteen steps to the doors, Jack felt a bout of nervousness take over him. He had been assured by Zane that the room had been taken care of by someone who wasn’t the younger man, which made him relax just a little bit. While the young scientist could have very well made him use a room on the very top floor – probably as revenge for some kind of perceived slight - , he still didn’t know who it was that handled everything and he was kind of wary about what floor he would be spending the foreseeable future on.

Luckily, he didn’t need to worry. His room assignment was on the eighth floor, so it was with a sense of overwhelming relief that he pushed the elevator button for the eighth floor. He may have kept in shape – as much as he could be in Eureka -, but he wasn’t deluding himself into thinking he was young enough to climb all eight flights of stairs. His legs burned just thinking about it.

When the doors opened to let him out on his floor, he breathed out as he stepped onto the floor. The carpet wasn’t too thick, but it seemed relatively new. The deep green kind of reminded him of Nathan’s eyes.

His room was about in the middle of floor with a moderately sized window and a queen-sized bed. It had a nice television and a bathroom equipped with a walk in shower that didn’t automatically adjust to his favored temperature and the bathtub was just enough to fit his lanky frame. He doubted Nathan would be very comfortable in it, being taller than he was, but thinking about Nathan Stark in the bathtub was something he would prefer doing when in the privacy of the bed before dropping off to sleep, so he shelved the idea for later.

Looking around at the small coffee table, armchair and sofa, he really didn’t think he ever missed SARAH more than in that moment.

Deciding to check out the large dining area on the thirteenth floor, Jack returned to the elevators and waited for the car to come back around. He was standing with his hands in his pockets – the room card tucked safely into his wallet – and looking at a picture of the Public Library framed next to him on the wall, when the stair door opened with clang and a young man tumbled out.

“I’m gonna kill him fer this,” the Texan drawl muttered as a hand swiped at curly brown hair. He leaned against the wall with a sigh. Blue eyes roamed the hall before stopping on Jack.

“Um,” his blue eyes wide. “Should I leave? I mean, while you’re planning someone’s murder…?”

He stared blankly for a moment before he shook his head. “Who, Buck?” he huffed a laugh. “Nah. More like what to put in his desk when I get back to Denver, than shootin’ him.”

“…”

“He’s my teammate,” the other flapped a hand at him. “Thought it’d be hilarious to put me on the eighth floor. I’m thinkin’ he knew the cafeteria has better salads than anywhere else, so he put me downstairs so’s I hafta go up. He shoulda known I wouldn’t like them steel death traps, so he’s makin’ me climb the stairs. And I want a salad, so I’m supposed to climb all the way up there?”

He huffed and they stared at each other for a minute before the Texan from Denver stuck his hand out. “Vin Tanner, ATF.”

“Oh, Jack Carter, Sheriff.”

“Nice ta meet ya! Sorry, ‘bout that. I just don’t like closed spaces, is all, and I’m really cravin’ a salad from upstairs…”

“Oh no, that’s fine,” Jack smiled easily now that he knew the other was a Federal Agent and kidding about killing his teammate. Probably. “I was heading up there, myself.”

“You just come in? And you’re on my floor, huh?” Vin smiled widely. “Seems I’m makin’ friends left and right.”

“You strike me as that kind of person who can make friends with anyone,” Jack nodded, though his Marshal eyes could see a danger in the slim figure before him. It wouldn’t do to underestimate this one.

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Remind me to introduce you to Chris. If there’s anyone I know who doesn’t make it easy, it’s him.”

The elevator car chose that moment to arrive and Jack glanced at Vin, who eyed it nervously.

“Did you want to climb the rest of the way? Or do you want to try riding up? I had to fly all by myself on a plane that almost crashed. If I can do that, you can do this.”

Vin looked from him to the car and back again. “Alright,” he puffed his cheeks. “I’ll do it. If you’re still alive, it must not have been that bad.”

Jack stepped in first and held the door so that the other man could take his time. “So, what kind of salad do you like?” he wanted to know. He didn’t doubt that Laura had him talking back in DC to get his mind off his impending flight and he was grateful for it. Now paying it forward, he listened as Vin started talking about his friend Nathan Jackson and how the medic had always tried getting him to eat green and leafy things once in a while.

“… and when I got in a few days ago,” he continued, leaning against the rail as Jack pushed the button. “The first thing I did was check out the view. It’s really somethin’ and I’m glad I’m here, but some of those creeps over at the convention shouldn’t be out in public. But I decided to try Nate’s suggestion of eatin’ somethin’ green at least once and I found out that the strawberry salad is pretty damn good.”

“Hm. That doesn’t sound bad at all,” Jack wasn’t normally a fan of strawberries, but he could try it in a salad.

There were two others who got in before the elevator reached the thirteenth floor and Jack smiled slightly as the elderly couple planned the afternoon’s outing.

“So, Carter,” Vin breathed in relief as he escaped the elevator’s confines. “What do you plan on doing for your vacation?”

“Oh, I’m not here solely for vacation,” the blond shook his head as he followed the Texan. “My friend wanted to me pick up something for him and that’s kind of why I’m here. The problem is, the guy I’m supposed to be picking it up from isn’t here today and might not be until Wednesday or something. After I get it, then I’ll think about leaving, but my other friend is still in DC and we were planning to fly back together.”

“So you can have company when the plane goes down?” Vin had to ask with a cheeky grin.

“Among other things.”

The conversation petered off when Jack and Vin got to the dining area.

The televisions and the windows were there as promised. Booths and square tables littered the space before them and at least a quarter of the room was filled.

“Over here,” Vin dragged the blond after him to the food area. “Salads straight from the fridge.”

There was a large refrigerator unit filled with salads, wraps, parfaits, milk, juices and some smoothie-type drinks. In a smaller unit, there were fruit cups ready for snacking.

“Are we allowed to take more than one?” Jack had to ask as Vin stuffed a strawberry salad and one of cranberry into his hands.

“Not going to waste food,” he lifted a shoulder, taking another strawberry and an apple salad for himself. “If we don’t eat it, they’ll throw them away. I’m just savin’ them the effort.”

‘Well, that’s one way of looking at it,’ he thought as Vin led him to a booth in the middle of the dining room.

“I’m headin’ back for sandwiches,” Vin told him. “Want?”

“Uh, I’m alright starting with salad,” he shook his head. “But can you find some coffee?”

“Sure thing, just watch the greens to make sure they don’t sprout legs and walk off,” he tapped the table and winked as he nodded to a little girl watching from a nearby table. “That one’s been tryin’ to lift my stuff. Hi, Strawberry,” he waved cheerily at the kid, who ducked behind the chair amidst a storm of giggles. Turning back to Jack, Vin shrugged. “Just fun and games, is all. Not like she’s gotten away with much for long.”

“Something tells me you’ve been letting her get away with it,” Jack smiled widely at the pair of brown eyes peeking at them from between the slits of the chair.

“Don’t let anyone hear,” Vin shushed, looking around with exaggeration. “My street cred’ll be ruined.”

“Ah. Gotcha.” Not like the brunet was kidding anyone. He was just a big kid himself, bouncing back toward the sandwiches. Jack made himself at home, realizing seconds later that they didn’t grab any forks. Sighing, he looked up toward the TV screens and shook his head at the golf re-run. Give him baseball any day.

Little Strawberry waved at him as she left with two older women, one clearly her mother, and Jack wiggled his fingers at her in return.

“See ya, Strawberry,” Vin called after her on his way back to the table with three sandwiches on a plate, a bag of chips under his arm, a bottle of water under the other arm and the forks in his free hand. The mother smiled back at him as she used the hand not attached to the kid to dig into her yellow purse for her phone.

“Thanks,” Jack grabbed the offered fork and opened his first salad. “I forgot to grab one. Where’s the coffee?”

“It’s comin’,” he smiled reassuringly. He popped the chips open and crammed almost half a sandwich into his mouth.

Jack crunched on his salad thoughtfully. ‘Strawberries don’t taste that bad,’ he reflected, liking the flavor. They made small talk for the better part of a half hour as Jack decided to hold off on the sandwiches until later. “I ate at the airport,” he shrugged, before looking around. “What happened to the coffee?”

Vin looked around, too, and lit up. “There they are. Aw, Doc, ya shouldn’t have.”

“I wasn’t about to subject your new best friend to your battery acid,” Jack looked up and blinked as he was hit with such a big sense of recognition. The slightly older man before him needed no introduction as the greyish-blue eyes of Dr. Alan Grant locked on him with a smile. “You don’t trust him with your coffee. Take that advice if nothing else.”

“…”

“What’s the fun in not trying battery acid for once in your life?” Vin pointed at him with his fork. “You did.”

“Only because I was naïve enough to let you get me coffee. Your friend is lucky I was here to warn him off.”

“…”

“He might like battery acid,” Vin lifted a shoulder. “’Siah does.”

“Not everyone can handle it,” Grant turned back to the blond. “Lots of sugar and cream?”

“…”

“Carter, tell me you can take just a sip of my coffee,” Vin scowled at the Doc. “One little sip won’t kill you. Tell Doc.”

“…”

“Carter?” Vin blinked at him before realization dawned and he grinned. “Ah. Another fan, I take it?”

“I… I – you,” Vin started laughing at Jack’s spluttering. “You – you’re him! Uh, Dr. Grant! Oh, hi, I’m Jack Carter. Did you want to sit? Hold on, let me – ”

“Calm down, Pard,” Vin shook his head. “Doc’s not gonna come after you with one of them big dinosaur bones.”

“Of course not,” he agreed. “I save the big ones for those who deserve it.”

“Surely you don’t mean me, right, Doc?” Vin fluttered his eyelashes at him. “Not one of your closest friends?”

“All mine are back in Montana,” he deadpanned, letting Jack slide over to give him some room. “Mr. Carter, a pleasure.”

“Oh, just Carter,” they shook hands. “But wow. One of my friends has both of your books and just adores them.” And after a hypnotization episode a few months back, they had to knock both Larry and Fargo out before they attempted to try making their own dinosaur.

“Under lock and key are they?” Grant quirked a smile as he settled in with his own cup of coffee.

“In a manner of speaking.” The alarm-equipped force field was probably pushing it, but Fargo was adamant that someone was eyeing his books. Jack stopped arguing with him about two hours later and left Stark, Jo and Allison to try their luck. Jack was pretty sure they failed; that same alarm light was still on that next morning and every day since.

Grant nodded and sipped at his coffee. “Tanner’s got a friend who is also something of a fan.”

“JD’s gonna be sorry he’s not here,” Vin chuckled. “I got to hang out with the famous Dr. Grant.”

“I’m hardly famous,” the oldest of the trio scoffed. “If it wasn’t for InGen’s Jurassic Park, you wouldn’t even know who I am.”

“But we do now,” Vin pointed out. “Live with it.”

“Yeah,” Jack shrugged, reaching out for a cup of coffee. “No use in crying over spilled milk.” He took a sip of the coffee and could practically _feel_ himself start turning green.

“That would be the battery acid. Told you he couldn’t handle it,” Grant commented to Vin, who just shook his head, his shoulders trembling with mirth.

Grant gave Jack the non-acid coffee and watched the blond dump cream into it.

“Pansy,” Vin huffed, blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

“It’s a wonder you can taste anything!” Jack frowned at him. “Drinking that all the time.”

“Eat your salad,” Grant slid it over. “It should help get rid of the taste.”

After finishing off both salads and half of one of Vin’s sandwiches, Jack sank back into the bench seat, closing his eyes with a sigh. “That’s better,” he drained his coffee.

“Can you start tasting the food now?” Grant chuckled at the happy sigh.

“Maybe I shoulda stayed at the convention,” Vin huffed at them. “Don’t get any crap from those guys. They make it as strong as I want.”

“Why _did_ you come back?” Grant wanted to know, pausing before taking a drink of coffee. “I thought you were there all day.”

“Nah. I was there most of yesterday and the day before that. Just have three more meetings ‘fore I’m a free bird. One tomorrow afternoon and two more the next day.” He leaned back with a smirk. “I had to help with a demonstration this mornin’, but the rest of the day is mine.”

“Ah, to be a Federal Agent,” Grant lamented, smiling into his coffee.

“Yeah, yeah,” Vin groused good-naturedly. “Least I don’t have to worry ‘bout gettin’ money for diggin’ in the - …” he trailed off as something caught his eye. “What the…”

Jack cracked an eye open to see what was going on. Vin tracked something behind his shoulder, eyes getting bigger the longer he stared.

He frowned at the other. “Hey, what? What’s going on?” he noticed Grant out of the corner of his eye twist around to see as someone cried out.

“Look! Birds!”

“Thousands of them!”

“Where are they all going?”

Grant stood up, still staring in disbelief. “If that’s not the _damnedest_ thing,” he moved closer to join the small crowd of other diners in front of the windows. Vin slid out of the booth and followed as Jack finally twisted all the way and found his mouth falling open at the sight.

They were flying past the windows and normally, birds flying past the windows wouldn’t garner a second look. But these birds flying past the windows and the on-lookers behind them weren’t going past in groups of one, two or three.

Not a single individual within one group. Not even a group flying in unusual patterns.

But birds.

Hundreds upon _thousands_ of them.

All of them flying at once, covering the sky, and weaving in and out of sight as they raced through the clouds already hiding the clear blue skies above.

Jack barely registered moving toward the windows as group after group of birds flew past. Unbidden, the last words Taggart said to him came to mind and he dug into his pocket for his phone as Vin appeared next to him.

“I’m headin’ fer the roof,” the Texan informed him softly before racing for the stairs as Jack listened to Tag’s phone ringing.

 _“Carter? How’s everything on your end, mate?”_ the Aussie’s cheerful voice echoed down the line.

“You know how you said that the animals were telling us something and to keep an eye out for anything strange?” Jack’s brow furrowed as Tag replied in the affirmative. “I think this counts as erratic behavior.”


	6. Spanish Interlude

 

* * *

 

 

There were many things that Ezra Standish regretted in life.

Some, done in the name of duty and others, best left to the shadows. Others still were personal decisions that may or may not have worked out in the end.

Right now, laying alone in the darkened room down the hall from Buck Wilmington, JD Dunne and Nathan Jackson, he stared up at the ceiling as he marked down one more.

On the eve of his departure with three of his teammates, one of his other teammates – his _best_ _friend_ – had come to him about a possible relationship between them. And what was his response?

_‘My friend… as pleased as I am to hear of your interest… I… I need time.’_

I need time.

I. Need. Time.

Of all the things he could have responded with, he could not have found one that sounded more like ‘No.’

The blank sapphire eyes he had been faced with had torn his heart into pieces. That blank look – the one he never liked seeing or putting there – hid heartache and it killed him to know it was because of him.

But it was even worse because…

It was truth.

Vin Tanner was someone so _incredibly_ special.

Ezra had thought the world of him even before that horrifying moment when realization of his shifted feelings became clear. There had been so many before that sweet, precious Texas jewel first locked eyes on him and not all had been happy.

Ezra was jaded, he knew this. And, while Vin didn’t seem to have had a better past, Vin wasn’t. Somehow, he still shone brightly and Ezra was deathly afraid of being the thing that dimmed the shine he had come to adore. He had no idea what he had done to deserve Vin’s affections, but he had and now he had to make a choice.

Did he want to keep an already incredibly important friendship at the cost of seeing heartbreak at his expense? Or did he want to risk dimming his love’s true shine for something he himself wanted?

There was just too much between them on both sides, but Vin was willing to take the jump. Ezra had spent almost three weeks stuck on that same side, not sure if he wanted to risk unintentionally hurting Vin.

Oh, the Southerner didn’t believe the Texan’s feelings to be false or misleading in any way, but there had been several instances in the past where this had appeared to be the case. He ended up hurt when others decided to walk away.

He knew that one of them had the potential to be hurt should he agree to this proposed relationship, but he did not want Vin to be the victim. Unfortunately, rejecting him would hurt him worse.

Ezra sighed into the darkness.

He did not do things very easily, even though a part of him insisted that there were people out there who had gone into relationships with reservations and had come out happier than they ever dreamed possible.

They took the risk, made the jump, and had come out the other side.

Was it that easy? Truly?

Vin was so sure that it was, if Ezra’s suspicions were right and there really were similar things in the younger man’s past as there were in his.

But could he be sure? How?

Did he want to risk hurting Vin, who deserved so much more than him?

Or did he want to keep him from being hurt, in the process hurting him anyway, in the hopes that he would still shine brightly away from Ezra’s influence?

Sensing yet another circle his thoughts were running around in, Ezra rubbed his eyes tiredly.

He had a low level headache that possibly started when he began arguing with himself about this upon stepping foot in Spain.

A low chuckle filled the room as he shook his head against the pillows. What was wrong with trying to keep two hearts from taking anymore scratches than they could handle? Even though Ezra might feel his shatter, Vin’s was a gift that Ezra wasn’t sure he could trust himself with.

His vibrating phone suddenly ripped him from his thoughts and he immediately padded over to the small table by the door where he’d placed it before falling into bed.

Green eyes catching the caller’s name, he felt a wry smile twist his lips.

“Hello,” he breathed.

_“Hey, Ez,”_ the shy, equally soft, greeting endeared the Texan to him even more. _“Just makin’ sure everything’s going alright for you boys.”_

“Of course, Vin,” because he couldn’t bring himself to distance the younger man from him since his confession and he hadn’t in the three small conversations they’d had since. “I daresay Mr. Jackson has been keeping an even closer eye on us than usual.”

_“That’s good ta hear.”_

Ezra spied his loopy grin in the small mirror set next to the door and rolled his eyes at himself. Honestly, he was neither a schoolboy or dealing with anything even remotely like his first crush, so he should probably stop acting like it.

_“Ez?”_

“Hm?”

_“Are you doin’ okay?”_

“Yes, I am. I’ve actually been sitting in the dark wondering what else may possibly occur. I trust Mr. Sanchez filled you in on the morning’s excitement?”

_“If you mean JD, Buck, Tequila and rice puddin’, I reckon so,”_ Vin’s laughter filled him to the brim with warmth. He felt a little shaky when he realized that he could sit here and just talk and listen to the younger man without a thought to anything else. _“But, ta be honest, I was actually callin’ to ask you something. Now, I know that this probably won’t make much sense and you’ll probably start laughing, but –”_

“Unless you would like me to find your question amusing,” he interrupted, “I will not laugh.” Of that, he was certain. He had already laughed once before at him and, though Vin had long forgiven him, he still beat himself up for it.

There was silence on the line for a few moments before Vin said, _“Have there been any birds flyin’ around where you are?”_

“Yes,” he answered automatically. But Vin would know this. Birds were pretty much everywhere in the world. Spain was no different.

_“No, Ez, I want you to think. Today, have you seen any birds flyin’ around or acting off somehow?”_

“Today, specifically?” he bit his bottom lip in thought.

When not thinking of his decision with Vin, he’d been keeping an eye trained to be alert for dangers. He did see birds today.

“Yes, I did. There were some, in fact –”

_‘That’s weird,’ JD paused to look out the window._

_‘What is?’ Nathan turned to ask as Buck and Ezra stopped a little further ahead._

_‘There are usually some birds over on that tree branch,’ the young tech’s brow scrunched. ‘But they aren’t out there right now.’_

“ – but,” Ezra blinked. “Mr. Dunne had noted that there were not birds where there should have been. Perhaps, not so much erratic behavior as… decreased presence?”

_“Damn. Ezra, there’s somethin’ going on and I ain’t the only one who thinks so. One of the guys on my floor, his name’s Carter and he’s got a friend back home that told him that the animals all but picked up and left. Before I left Denver, I noticed that the horses were sensing something and all the noises at the ranch were silent. Ya know, the hoppers and such. And that feelin’ I got in Denver, I’m startin’ to get here. And not two hours ago, what seemed like every New York bird that could fly was in the air.”_

Ezra did not claim to have the same nature sense that Vin did, but even he knew that when animals started behaving outside the norm, it was time to start looking for reasons why.

_“If JD’s right and birds are startin’ to leave, it might be time for you boys to pack up and go, never mind what conference meetin’s ya got left.”_

The undercover agent’s thoughts raced. He was fairly sure they could leave within the hour, but where would they go? “I will need to discuss this with our compatriots –”

_“You don’t need to leave right now,”_ Vin hastened to assure. _“Just… just be sure.”_

“We could find flights out tomorrow.”

_“When’s the conference over?”_

“We can leave sometime tomorrow night,” Ezra scrunched up the blankets in his fist. Nathan would probably kill them for thinking of leaving before his lecture the morning after next, but should Vin insist, Ezra was leaving without second thought.

_“Alright. I’m still in New York… It’s startin’ to rain right now. If you boys can get a flight over here, ya’ll can stay with me a few days ‘fore we can all head home after my conference hours are done.”_

“That would put us in the City tomorrow afternoon,” he ran through the time zones.

_“Then I’ll see you tomorrow_.”

“Right,” Ezra sighed. “Until tomorrow.”

_“And Ez? You don’t have to give me an answer when I see you. I… I can wait a little longer. Just to be sure you have time to find the answer you want.”_

Ezra was pretty sure his heart had a deep crack in it at the hesitant reply. “I shall endeavor to do my best before then to come to a decision.”

“ _Don’t rush on my account,”_ he assured. _“I want you to come to the right answer for you. Don’t decide for me. May not like the answer, but it ain’t only me, so… Just. Think careful, alright?”_

“Alright.”

Ezra spent long minutes listening to the dial tone, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat. The dear man would take a rejection if he had to, should Ezra decide it. As long as Ezra was happy…

He slowly lowered the phone to rest on the bed beside him as he tightly shut his eyes.

Think carefully to come to an answer.

He was certain that a small, and ever growing, part of him already had.

*** * *

“Has anyone seen my armadillo?”

Zane slowly turned to stare at the sheepish redhead.

“Well, it’s just… It’s gone again. I would ask Carter, but he’s gone and I know it wouldn’t have hopped into his things because I had just seen it this morning.”

“You mean the – Carter named it, didn’t he?” Zane had to laugh. The man did know how to put a name on something.

“Well, it was easier to remember than what I was _already_ calling it,” Hern lifted a shoulder, before rubbing the back of his neck. “Now if I can only remember what it was…”

“Don’t feel bad,” Zane reached over to pat his arm. “He has that effect on everyone.” It just made him like the blond sheriff even more. The scientist himself had wondered why most of the geniuses around here couldn’t call something what it was. He snickered as he remembered the Broccoli Steamer Debacle.

“Yeah, well, I still need to take the readings from it and I can’t do that if it keeps disappearing on me at the drop of a hat!”

“Find JoJo,” he suggested. “Maybe it’s decided to like her today.”

“She’s out responding to a call,” Hern sighed. “I’ll probably ask her later. Maybe someone else has seen it.” He twirled around and left Zane to his thoughts.

He sighed and turned back to his laptop.

Images from Japan and Australia made him shake his head.

‘What a crazy world I’ve come into.’

Hail that shouldn’t have been possible and a hurricane that broke records.

And there were other interesting events, too.

Zane had been asked to help isolate whatever virus was ravaging the environmental projects and screwing around with the readings, but the more he looked, the more he couldn’t help wondering if this _wasn’t_ a virus.

It was a horrifying thought.

He chewed on the cap of his pen as he scrolled through data gathered by various projects and kept an eye on weather events coming in from around the world. The shrinking theory of a virus at work was inconsistent with what was being reported elsewhere.

But… If there wasn’t a virus, Zane wasn’t sure what the hell was going on anyway.

Nothing about the ridiculous readings _or_ events was making any sort of sense and it was highly doubtful that the goings on would have gotten any clearer even _with_ the virus theory.

He dropped his head and used his palms to press against his closed eyes in frustration.

He had a program running to corral this so-called ‘virus’, but he was having the hardest time trying to come to terms with the fact that these readings may not be affected by anything other than what they were designed to be affected by. It was outlandish and completely outside the realm of impossibility, but that’s what Zane’s gut was telling him.

Between what his gut was adamant about and what his mind was insisting _wasn’t possible_ , he had the most horrible headache coming. He could tell.

“Alright,” he spat out the cap and gentled the pressure against his eyes as he took a hand and started tapping on the tabletop. “Let’s say it’s not a virus. Where does that leave us?”

…

Besides ‘screwed’.

He sighed, bringing the computer closer to him and twisted his mouth as he ran through the measured data again.

The space instruments were not finding anything unusual; the plant projects weren’t either… His eye caught a highlighted section and he frowned as he followed it.

There was a tag marking the equipment faulty and the reading as false. The reading, by itself, was indicative of faulty wiring or something screwing on the inside of the measuring equipment. When taken into account within the context of the highly, _highly_ alarming picture that was starting to form…

He minimized the window to turn his attention to flipping through the world’s databases in order to find similar data measured elsewhere. The distance the little beacon traveled was pretty damn impressive for so short a time, but it’s the _location_ that Zane looked for in other project parameters.

And he found it.

In one other place.

He stared at his prize dumbly before grappling for the telephone without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Yeah, it’s Donovan. Get me someone who has any idea of any clue of this joint project with the Hedland Center. Preferably someone who can tell me something about the ocean. Yes, I’m serious! What do you mean, ‘What does this have to do with a virus?’ Just get somebody down here _now_!”

He slammed the phone down before rubbing his mouth, wide eyes locked on his screen and thoughts racing wildly.

The virus theory just spectacularly crashed and burned.

No doubt about it.

‘Screwed’ just took on a whole new level.


	7. Early Dinner

 

* * *

 

 

Laura dropped into an empty chair, closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

Despite her initial fears, they didn’t crash and burn an hour into the first round. Instead, they were on track to make it into the second.

It was a _huge_ relief.

“Don’t fall asleep yet,” Brian slid into a chair next to her. “We still have this mixer thing to show up at later.”

“Although,” Sam smiled brightly at her, “if you don’t want your pasta, I’ll take it.”

“Oh, no, Hall,” she scowled at him. “Stay on your side.”

He subsided, hands held up in surrender.

Brian leaned back in his chair as he looked at all the other visitors in town for the competition gathering in the hall next to them, all waiting to get back in the gymnasium that they had used earlier.

Laura followed his gaze.

The visitors were going to be eating an early dinner while the administrators got the cafeteria the way they wanted it for the party. Every girl had to wear a dress or skirt of some kind and Laura hoped desperately that Sam liked the one she chose.

No. That wasn’t what she meant.

Although, she did want him to like it and maybe give her a second look.

“Hey,” Sam stood, jolting her from her thoughts. “C’mon.”

Laura and Brian followed him as he joined the stream heading for the tables they had used earlier.

All the visitors had written down their orders after consulting the menu and the food would be delivered to them in the room.

Some of the other girls had taken over a few desks and were giggling over the upcoming party and gossiping about their dresses or what boy was cute that they were going to try chatting up.

“You can go over there,” Brian told her as she looked back down at her hands. “You know, mingle with other girls.”

“Um, no,” she smiled slightly, shaking her head. “That’s okay.”

Brian eyed her, unconvinced.

“Sam seems to have made a friend, though,” she nodded over at their third, who had joined a few others and seemed to be talking about sports. “Want to go over there and join them?”

“I’m not very interested,” he shook his head. He did, however, eventually amble over to some others who were talking chess.

Laura smiled slightly after him and glanced back at the group of girls who seemed to have attracted others. She turned back to face the front with a sigh. While Sam or Brian may have said she was a popular girl with tons of girlfriends, the truth was vastly different.

She got along with other girls, but that was the extent of it. To be honest, she found herself more able to attract guy friends. She really wasn’t sure why.

She didn’t even know if she wanted a female friend, since she was usually mostly studying or obsessing over her crush on Sam. She was an only child, though she had always wanted a sister, and she didn’t have very many extended family members her age to really get close to. It was by no means a lonely childhood, but she had sometimes wanted another girl to talk to about things.

She vaguely wondered if she would like Zoe Carter. She was around Laura’s age and she sounded really nice. Her dad was fun to hang out with.

Laura smiled slightly as she remembered Carter. She hoped he was doing alright. He was a good man, who, Laura suspected, had a slight crush of his own.

On his Dr. Nathan Stark.

She stifled a giggle as she remembered the slightly goofy smile he wore when he talked to him. And about him, now that she thought of it. She thought it was really sweet that even a divorcee like Carter could find another chance. Laura had never looked down on others for liking someone of their own gender and her parents taught her that looking down on someone was not okay if that person was happy and comfortable with who that person was.

Carter seemed more than happy with being gay, though she got the feeling that he wasn’t quite in a relationship with Dr. Stark. The romantic in her hoped that the two of them would one day agree to date and they would find a happily ever after.

“Uh, Laura?”

“Hm?” she blinked, clearing away her fantasy of the life Carter and Dr. Stark could build together – she was debating with herself if the cute house would have a fence, a garden or both –, and looked up at Sam who was giving her an odd look. “Yes?”

“Your pasta,” he nodded down at an adult who had apparently been trying to get her attention.

“Oh, yeah, right,” she hurriedly stood. “Thanks,” she smiled brightly before heading over to get her food.

After eating and following the crowd of girls to their assigned places to ready themselves for the mixer, Laura paused at a window to look outside.

Lightning flashed amidst a curtain of rain that seemed to have no end. It had started some hours ago, but already the downpour was causing puddles for pedestrians and making traffic even worse for commuters. Thunder rolled over her as she turned away.

She had never been scared of thunderstorms. She wasn’t going to start, either, but it wasn’t good weather to be out in. She hoped the weather cleared out some for tomorrow, because she wanted to go out and explore the City.

She dearly wanted to do something tomorrow and she wondered if Sam would be amenable to going with her. Well, perhaps she could also invite Brian and some others. So it wouldn’t feel too much like a date.

Gosh, if she and Sam were to ever go on an actual date with just themselves as company, Laura was pretty sure she would be feeling all sorts of things jumping in her stomach at the anticipation. If she didn’t faint from nerves first, it would probably be an okay date. She would want another one, but that would depend on Sam, too. Of course, she didn’t even know if he liked her that way. That was a reason to not let on about her crush.

But, as she got ready to go, she still couldn’t help dreaming about their perfect date.

 

** *

Yosemite was someone who always kept his word.

So, when he drove out to the Larabee homestead to check on the horses in the middle of a downpour, he bore it with grace as he jogged into the house, opening it with the key that Chris gave him.

All was eerily silent as he wandered through the rooms usually filled with activity.

In the kitchen, Josiah would more than likely be working on his next yummy dish, with Nathan sitting at the nook keeping him company.

JD and Buck would try beating each other at a racing videogame out in the living room and Chris would be in his study with any paperwork left over for him.

Vin would be watching the pair on the controls and Ezra would be betting against himself about certain factors of the game.

Yosemite had to smirk to himself as he stared out at the rain from the kitchen window. Vin and Ezra just didn’t seem to notice watching each other more than they would the game. He wondered when they would decide that they would do something about this crush they had on each other.

Shaking his head at his thoughts, Yosemite braced himself for the next jog out to the barn where the team’s horses were kept. Each of Team Seven had one and those horses loved them just as much as they were loved. Although, Peso could keep anyone guessing as to how he felt toward Vin, but Yosemite knew the black horse had an affection for his owner.

Pushing one side of the door open, he gratefully slipped in to get out of the rain.

It was as he put his hand in his pocket for his flashlight that he came up with another key.

‘What’s this?’ he tilted the key in the light and blinked as he realized that it was the key to the barn. It opened the door he had just come in from. Yosemite turned back to the lock and felt his eyebrows raise as he saw that the lock had been disengaged already.

But that couldn’t be.

Chris had locked the door when he left a few days ago and Yosemite was sure he had locked it himself the night before last. Without the key, it would have had to have been opened from the _inside_.

It took a moment for that to sink in before he turned right around and raced over to check on the horses. Only to come to a complete halt not five steps after coming into the stable area.

Each and every stall was empty, and the horses long gone.


	8. Alan

 

* * *

 

 

Alan Grant was what you could call an early riser born from necessity.

Digging in the Montana Badlands usually went easier on his aging bones if he could do most of his duties before the heat struck. Being a teacher meant that he had to get up to prepare for classes and maybe sneak some grading in before students started arriving.

But, for the longest time, getting up early meant that he could take a few moments to himself while watching Billy sleep.

It had been a hard road to recovery for the younger man and Alan had made sure to be there every step of the way. From sun up to sun down, Alan made sure that he wasn’t far from Billy should he be needed. A kind of penance in a way for telling Billy that he was just like InGen, when he wasn’t. That, however, was only one part of why Alan refused to let someone else take care of Billy.

Guilt, yes, but also because Alan had wanted a constant reminder that Billy was alive and getting better.

He could never tell when exactly he started feeling out of sorts when Billy wasn’t around, but he did know it started well before Isla Sorna. He also knew exactly what it meant.

To some degree, he had also felt it when he was back with Ellie before Isla Nublar and their relationship started going downhill. But it was fine now. Actually, Billy reminded him of Ellie, but only in the way their eyes sparkled with discovery when they found even the smallest bone or footprint.

In any other way, they differed completely. Not the least of which was Billy’s gender and his enthusiasm for trying anything once.

Alan finished his first cup of coffee and played with the cream containers as he stared out at New York, lost in thought.

He knew that Billy wouldn’t mind if Alan felt more for him than he ever did for Ellie. He would even have some kind of pride in that. And while Alan knew that Billy wouldn’t ridicule him for anything, that wasn’t why he was keeping a quiet front.

If Billy knew that he felt strongly for him, then there was every chance that Billy would agree to a relationship. But it was the motive for that acquiescence that truly worried him.

He knew that the younger man still held guilt over getting them all in trouble, and that would likely be a reason, yes. The other worry is that the same need to help Billy that had taken over Alan’s thoughts would be the thing to spawn gratefulness in the younger man and Alan wanted a relationship only if Billy felt the same and not out of a need to pay him back for all the time spent at his bedside.

“That’s some deep thoughts you’re thinking.”

Alan blinked before looking up at Carter as the blond stood next to him, rocking on his heels, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

“Not anything I haven’t thought of before,” he sighed, gesturing for the other to take a seat.

It was the truth. Even before coming to New York, Alan had debated telling Billy. He deserved to know, but again, the idea that agreeing to a relationship as a kind of penance didn’t sit well with him.

“So,” Carter rubbed his hands together as he slid across from him in the booth they used for lunch and dinner yesterday. “Doing anything on the agenda today?”

Alan looked pointedly out the windows at the storm. It had started yesterday and hadn’t let up since.

“Well, yeah,” Carter twisted around to grimace at the window. “But I mean, any lectures or something?”

“I was told in no uncertain terms that I had a free week,” he shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, I _am_ doing my agenda.”

Carter turned back with a smile. “I don’t have anything going on today, either.”

“Not a very good time to do anything anyway. You’d either drown or get struck by lightning.”

“Hm,” he nodded a few times. “And… would you rather be eaten instead?”

Alan chuckled mirthlessly. “I think I would rather fall and break my neck on a dig.”

“Dying doing what you love. I sometimes wonder if that’s my fated end.”

Alan reached down for a sugar packet, eyes catching a figure inching toward them. “I suppose being a Sheriff has that dangerous possibility.”

“It’s better than being a Marshal,” Carter wrinkled his nose. “Dying is more of a certainty than a possibility. I almost bought it a few times, but at the same time, being a Sheriff for my little town makes it seem like I am _this_ close to buying it about once a week.”

Deliberately turning his gaze on Carter, Alan smiled. “Though I wouldn’t be able to guess how many pitch-fork wielders must be out for blood, it must be nice to worry about only your little corner of the world and not have to go on cross-country hunting sprees or have to keep a witness safe.”

“Trust me on this,” Carter’s gaze turned serious. “Give me pitch-fork wielders _any_ day. I can handle them with one hand tied behind my back at this point.”

“Want to test that theory?”

Alan chuckled as Carter jumped almost right out of his seat before turning a glare on their shameless neighborhood Texan, who grinned unrepentantly at him.

“If you mean scaring someone into having a heart attack,” the blond huffed, “you’re getting there.”

Vin laughed. “Sorry, Pard. I just couldn’t resist.”

“Glare as hard as you want,” Alan told the ruffled blond. “I’ve been told that someone has an even scarier one, but I’m under the impression that Cowboy here isn’t the least bit intimidated by him either.”

“Well, yeah,” Vin grabbed a chair and slid it closer, sprawling into it with a grace reminiscent of Billy sprawling across the old couch in Alan’s office. Alan liked that couch, even if Ian Malcolm had given it to him as a gag birthday gift after Jurassic Park. “I was in the Rangers, then the Marshals before I tried being a Bounty Hunter for a few years until I was drafted for the ATF. Chris ain’t as scary as others I ran into once upon a time.”

“So I take it that you are the early bird out of all of us,” Alan glanced at the time. It should be about dawn, right now, though the storm wouldn’t give that impression.

“Always had been,” he lifted a shoulder. “Though, ain’t surprised you’re just now figurin’ that out, Doc. You were runnin’ out the door almost all of last week ‘fore I could think about getting up.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Lectures at local schools and everything,” he explained to Carter.

“So, I guess we’re all staying in today,” Carter mused.

“Yup,” Vin agreed. “’Ceptin’ me later this afternoon. Back to convention, I go.”

“And we feel so sorry for you,” Carter patted his shoulder in mock-sympathy. “We’ll just sit here and watch the storm when you’re on your way back.”

“Some friends the pair of you turned out to be.”

“Never said friendship was perfect,” Alan sagely commented.

“Yeah, yeah. Later, me and Carter’ll come bother you in your room.”

“Are you on the eighth floor, too?” Carter wanted to know.

“Nope,” Alan shook his head. “I’m on the tenth.”

“’Cause he’s leagues more famous than we’ll ever be,” Vin huffed good-naturedly.

“Maybe my so-called ‘booking agent’ likes me better than yours does you.”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “I did dump sugar on his bacon. Not like it was my fault, though.”

“I’m sure,” Alan leaned back in his seat.

Letting the younger men move the conversation to baseball, Alan breathed in contentment. While the weather wasn’t great, the company wasn’t so bad – they were even amusing at times.

He was on vacation and he didn’t have to worry about things until he got back to Montana next week.

The only thing that would have made this completely perfect would have been if Billy had been sitting there with him.

** *

Nathan Stark tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

One of the things he enjoyed about coming in before dawn – or not leaving at all – was the silence.

Usually, Global Dynamics had a skeleton crew running in addition to night owls, but no one bothered him in his office. Unless there was some kind of emergency about to befall the town.

In the quiet hours before dawn, Nathan could breathe and reflect on things. True, most of it was work, but he also spent almost as much time thinking about Jack Carter than anything else.

The blond was unlike anyone he’d ever met, or chose to pay attention to, and Nathan was constantly surprised by him.

While he was so far below his intelligence level, Jack displayed a different sort of intelligence that – while unconventional – worked for things that wouldn’t work otherwise. With a seemingly instinctual knowledge of how things generally worked, Jack had proven to be incomparable with anyone else Nathan could think of to bring into the Sheriff’s position. It was basically the reason that Lupo wasn’t running the office, and she had grudgingly acknowledged it on more than one occasion – especially outside of Jack’s hearing.

Nathan stretched his legs and crossed them at the ankle.

He had made a list of pros and cons about whether or not to posit the question of a relationship with Jack. The scientist was certain that the blond would agree to at least a trial run, and certainly Nathan knew that a physical relationship wasn’t going to be a problem. He knew that he himself was a fine sight for the eyes, even if he did say so, and the blond wasn’t the least bit unattractive.

Emotionally, there was potential on his end for deep connection, though he wasn’t entirely sure at this point if there was a chance that he could let it deepen without wanting to give it up for working so much. That was what eventually killed his relationship with Allie. He knew that a relationship was the part of two people, and he did want to at least have the chance to try, but he also knew that Carter had just as irregular work hours as he did, so that at least was going to be something that they would just have to figure out as they went.

Nathan was sure, however, that he did want this relationship – or at least a trial run – and Jack had recently started dropping clues about his own interest, but those were open to interpretation and he was certain that they were unconsciously shown. He had to actually talk to the blond about it, but he would prefer if they talked face to face as opposed to over the phone.

Nathan levered himself up out of his chair to roam his office.

There wasn’t much going on this morning, but he didn’t mind. Thinking about Carter was something he could easily spend hours doing. It hadn’t escaped his notice that he felt lighter when thinking of the blond. Potential for a deep connection, yes. Whether that connection flourished was, again, up to them. Work was always going to be a part of their lives. That was a given.

Of course, it was still purely theoretical. Maybe because Nathan hadn’t really shown his interest, so he would have to take that into consideration when cornering the blond with the idea of a relationship. And, come to think of it, the idea that the brunet was interested would probably throw the blond for a loop, so maybe he shouldn’t expect an answer as immediately as he probably wanted.

He should also probably consider the fact that maybe he’s been thinking of this too much like an experiment – which it wasn’t – and would probably need to let some of his walls down. It wouldn’t be easy, especially during a trial run which would need to be negotiated as soon as possible, but there was also the issue of feeling comfortable enough for him to let the blond see behind some of those walls.

It wasn’t easy feeling comfortable enough to let walls down, but he thought he would like to try.

Nathan rubbed his eyes. While thinking about his blond felt good, sometimes it was accompanied swiftly by a headache. In any case, talking about it with Jack would be the most prudent course of action right now and their conversation could lead where it did then and not a moment before. As a scientist, he knew well that a prediction was not the end all and be all of an end result.

Returning to his desk, it took a few minutes to shuffle some papers into his out-box and he was about to start signing some forms for the day ahead when his office door crashed open and Zane Donovan tumbled in with a laptop in hand and an odd look on his face.

“Stark, you have to see this,” he showed complete and utter disregard for paperwork by tossing the computer on the desk and turning the screen toward the older man. “I was working on this so-called virus that was plaguing the environmental department and nothing about a virus theory was making any sense, so then, I started looking at the readings in a different context. What if this isn’t a virus? I looked through the data results and found that the oceanic projects – most notably in the North Atlantic – were the most adamant and _consistent_ recordings of faulty readings. Global weather’s been nuts, right? Outside of solar interference, the North Atlantic Current is the only part of anything about this that makes the slightest bit of sense. I had one of the marine scientists explain to me in part of what it was I was seeing. Then, I found Professor Terry Rapson’s work on ocean currents and a Doctor Jack Hall’s work with paleoclimatology  and abrupt climate shifts. I gotta tell you, the more I’ve read and heard and seen about all of this, the more I’m freaking out, because a lot of it is making sense in a way that I really don’t want it to.”

Nathan listened with half an ear as he started browsing through the offered data. His sharp green eyes started hitting certain points, finding a sort of half formed pattern before nodding. “Give me what you have. I’ll look through it myself to check your work.”

“Alright, give me an hour tops. I’ll start right now, but I will bet everything on this being the real deal and not a virus or anything.”

“I’m inclined to believe you, but evidence is key. Make it understandable and I’ll – ”

Fargo suddenly barreled in. “You _have_ to check this out!” he shoved his own laptop at Nathan. “It’s certainly not impossible, but the odds are astronomical!”

“What?” Zane tried getting a look at the screen.

Nathan’s brow furrowed as he abandoned one for the other, eyes flying across data of an impending tornado outbreak being measured.

“Where is this?” Zane read over his shoulder. He gave a low whistle as he looked at the readings. “Damn, someone’s going to get pounded.”

“That’s just it,” Fargo shook his head, eyes wide and sparkling with disbelief. “That data,” he pointed at the laptop held in Nathan’s hands, “that’s coming in? It’s from Los Angeles.”

** *


	9. Outbreak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, everybody! I wanted to be sure I had more chapters in store for all of you. Updates through January will begin every Wednesday in the time slot between 8-9 pm EST. 
> 
> I also had to work on a massive crossover series - which was actually why I started this story, i.e. writer's block. That collapsed in a big way and with that and school for the year wrapping up, I find myself with some time for this story.
> 
> Which brings us to actual story business. 
> 
> I have hit a point in this story that I can no longer stay on 'movie-time'. I had decided before I wrote the first chapters to make it last another week than the movie says. I am now at the part where character interaction will be more of a focus, which I would have liked to have seen in the movie. It may be a little scattered for a bit in the coming chapters, but I think you may see why shortly. 
> 
> I am not done with this story, but I had to take a break because I was literally playing the movie on non-stop repeat. Now that I've had a break, I fully intend to start writing again. Sometime next week. 
> 
> Sorry for the wait, more chapters to come.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> *off to finish 2 1/2 papers.*

 

* * *

 

 

The wind was picking up and the clouds looked angry.

Josiah Sanchez ambled along behind his team leader as the duo headed back to their hotel from a jog along a moderately travelled jogging trail. It was quiet as they went, their surroundings an eerie silent as if waiting in anticipation for the coming thunderstorm.

Not many were out and about this early and that was one of the reasons that they took an early morning jog. Their next conference section was scheduled in a few hours and they would probably be too busy doing other things to bother with a jog, so it was decided to use the early morning quiet to their advantage.

“I wonder if our Spanish Brothers have driven someone crazy yet,” he mused, chuckling at the thought of Nathan and Ezra having to corral JD and Buck from their antics, unless they somehow talked the Southerner into it.

“If they haven’t already, I doubt it’ll happen,” the blond huffed a laugh. “Nate’s assured me that everyone’s still alive and extra hole-free.”

“Another thing to be thankful for.”

They turned the corner of a street and came across the local youth center. Josiah had seen many a teen on the basketball courts on his travels in and around the area. It reminded him of the youth center back in Denver, or, more precisely, Purgatorio where Vin lived.

The team had spent many an hour volunteering at it and Josiah had made many friends of both regular customers and the network of volunteers running in and out of the building.

Speaking of volunteers…

Josiah spied a young blonde as she tried opening an outside storage closet near the basketball courts. “Hold on, Brother,” he directed Chris’ attention to her. “It would appear that our help is required.”

“Yeah, alright,” he sighed, following the bigger man as they trotted over.

The blonde volunteer was struggling with opening the door, the keys hanging out of the lock, and they could hear grumbling as they neared.

“Stupid piece of junk,” she growled, tugging at the handle with a foot braced against the wall beside the door. “I told Jerry to oil this thing, but does he listen to me? Nooo. I’m not ‘experienced’ enough to be listened to.” She gave another admirable pull. “I’m going to find him after I rip this handle out and shove it up his –”

“Excuse me, Sister,” Josiah called from a safe distance. “It appears that you might need some help.”

She looked up to reveal hazel eyes. “Out jogging?” she took in their clothes.

“Trails are quiet,” Chris explained, before turning to the door. “Looks like it needs some oil.”

“That’s what I told the jerk who I’m supposed to be respecting,” she scowled. “I’m taking a break from school, mostly because of my mom, and I wouldn’t be out here trying to dislocate my shoulders if it wasn’t for Mr. Experienced Volunteer, who thinks that he can boss around the new ones. All he’s doing is trying to score a date with a girl who has been giving _me_ the bedroom eyes. Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay – because my dad is and he is the _best_ , but overbearing sometimes -, but I’m straight and not sure if a female companion is quite in my future just yet.”

Josiah hummed in agreement. “So, yes for the help?”

“Oh, sure, knock yourselves out,” she waved a hand. “It’s going to help having witnesses make my case before I make Jerry come out here and do this himself under threat of internal bleeding.”

“From the handle?” Chris grinned, his green eyes lighting up with amusement.

“Nah,” she snorted. “I can always call my dad and make up some story so that he can take care of my problem with a baseball bat.”

“He live around here?” Chris tugged experimentally at the door and shook his head. It wouldn’t be moving any time soon without help.

“No, he lives up North. He could also call some former co-workers of his to check up on me,” she mused. “They aren’t very picky about punishments, so long as the point gets across.”

The blond – whose nametag read ‘Joey C.’ – watched Chris tug at the door.

“Allow me, Brother,” Josiah nudged him aside. Even his strongest pull – which was said to move the Ram, though Buck wasn’t a good source of information, even if Josiah still couldn’t remember why his arms felt like they were about to fall off the morning after someone’s birthday last year – couldn’t budge the door. “Time to call in reinforcements?”

“Yeah,” Joey rubbed her eyes. “C’mon, follow me. You can glare at Jerry to make him do something.”

Unfortunately, Jerry had told her that the oil had run out and one of the other volunteers had corrected him saying, “Yeah, it dried up a few months ago and he hasn’t done anything about it.”

“Well, looks like a trip to the store is in order,” Joey huffed.

Jerry shrugged and went off for the money pouch to get her enough for the oil, while Joey flopped into an armchair and flicked the TV on.

The channel had already been on FOX, so Joey left it as one of the reporters had the camera pan out to a couple of surfers on the beach effortlessly riding waves. She sighed and let her head fall back against the headrest to stare at the ceiling.

“Maybe we should think about headin’ back,” Chris murmured to Josiah, rolling a half filled water bottle between his hands.

“That might be the best choice,” he agreed. There was nothing else they could do at this point. He was just about to open his mouth to announce their intention to leave when one of the volunteers just coming in made a noise in the back of his throat.

“Look,” he pointed at the screen. “Is that _hail_?”

“Huh?” Joey picked her head up and stared. The camera was pointed toward the sand as the operator joined the reporter and a bunch of surfers huddling under the lifeguard station.

“Hey,” Jerry skid to a stop at the door, phone pressed to his ear. “They just issued a tornado warning!”

“ _What?!”_ Joey sprung up. She huddled close to hear the conversation as Josiah shook his head at the television screen.

“It would have happened eventually, right?” Chris watched the screen as the camera point of view shrank to the side and a different reporter took over.

“Maybe,” Josiah crossed his arms thoughtfully. Seemed kind of sudden, though, but what did he know about the weather?

“Hey!” someone shouted down the hall. “Get up here! There’s a funnel cloud!”

“Oh, no,” Joey jerked upright with wide eyes. “What are you doing on the roof, Jay?! Hey, get down!” the blonde darted out of the room, Chris and Josiah exchanging looks before running after her.

There was a roof access and they banged through the door where a growing crowd of early arriving volunteers were already gathering to stare at an actual tornado sitting on the horizon. Someone had set up a small television screen up there and the channel was already on the news showing that same reporter from the beach driving on the interstate, following twisters.

Reports were flooding through, while some of the volunteers had phones pressed to their ears. Josiah turned to the other side of the roof just in time to see another twister touch down a little farther away than the first one.

“I don’t like this,” Joey sighed. “We need to get off the roof and down somewhere.”

“The bathrooms should work,” someone suggested. “Not the best location, but we’ve never had to deal with tornadoes before, so we don’t have storm shelters.”

As Joey led the roof evacuation, Josiah wandered over to Chris standing in the middle of the roof.

“Well, this is exciting,” he commented, watching another twister form. “Not quite what I was expecting flying out here.”

The blond hummed. “I don’t think we’ll need to be going in today,” he glanced at his bigger teammate. “See that one?” he nodded in the direction of the one that just touched down. “It’s heading for the conference center.”

It did appear that way.

“Perhaps we should join the others downstairs,” he suggested.

“Probably the smart thing to do,” Chris shook his head before herding the last few stragglers back in the building. They met Joey, who held a chain and padlock, and Chris took over the duty of securing the roof door while Josiah went with the smaller blonde back downstairs to the first floor.

Besides the bathrooms, there were four windowless interior rooms around the middle of the building, one of them a smallish classroom for individual reading practice and tutoring.

About more than half of the volunteers had shown up and some were in shock. There were some regulars there as well, only recently hearing about the outbreak and being too close to turn back.

One of the volunteers appeared with a few gym mats. “I used to live in Tornado Alley,” he explained to Joey and Josiah. “We can keep these over our heads as we hunker down.”

“That’s a great idea,” Joey praised. “Come on,” she gestured to a few others. “Let’s go get the rest of the mats. They’ll be good to use in the bathrooms.”

“I don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life in a bathroom,” one of the older volunteers muttered to another.

“There are four other places that aren’t bathrooms,” a younger volunteer retorted. “Take your pick.”

“We could all probably fit into two of the interior rooms,” someone else suggested as Joey returned with her mats and volunteers and Chris materialized next to Josiah’s elbow.

“No one’s upstairs,” he told him. “Roof’s secure.”

Jerry, still on the phone, shook his head. “Los Angeles airport is done for,” he announced. “Ripped apart.”

“There goes our ride home,” Josiah looked back down at Chris as the blond dug in his pocket for his cellphone. He turned to call Judge Travis and Josiah watched him.

“Well,” Joey came up to him. “It’s evidently been decided to split between the four rooms instead of the bathrooms. We’ll still have the mats, though.”

When Chris hung up and joined Josiah and Joey in the small classroom with a handful of others, everything was already set up. Anything that had been against the back wall was moved in favor of huddling against it.

“Well?” Josiah prompted as Chris settled next to him.

“Apparently, flying home wasn’t going to happen anyway,” he shook his head. “Turbulence brought down a plane already.”

“Perhaps driving would have been a better choice,” he rumbled, letting Joey lean against his arm.

“I don’t know much about tornado aftermath,” she commented, “but you might be here awhile for them to get the roads cleared up.”

A volunteer from one of the other three rooms popped her head in. “The building’s cleared out. No one else is anywhere in the building that isn’t here.”

“Okay,” Joey nodded. The door shut and nervous murmurings broke out amongst the others.

Josiah was no stranger to these types of situations. Waiting to see what would happen was nerve-wracking to say the least. Would it go over them or find some other target completely?

Looked like it was coming toward them. The sound of a train riding past was getting a little louder.

Mats were already coming up to cover heads and people were starting to squish closer together.

Josiah felt a hand grab his wrist and he turned a comforting smile on Joey who was trying to keep a calm breathing cycle. “It’s going to be just fine,” he assured.

“Yeah,” she gave a shaky smile. “But still. After all I’ve seen and lived through, I just don’t want this to be the thing that kills me.”

“Don’t start thinking about that yet,” Chris grunted as the train noise seemed to get even louder. The floor was trembling very slightly, but Josiah could feel it and sent a small prayer upwards for added safety.

The trembling grew fiercer and there were screams as Josiah squashed Joey to him under the shelter of the mat he held over them. Chris had his own and the lights went out as the tornado got right up over them.

Josiah braced back up against the wall as the world seemed to shake around him. Howling winds could be heard and debris from outside was heard smashing into the building. Vaguely, he could make out Joey chanting, “I want my dad. I want my dad. I want my dad.”

Luckily, it didn’t take long until the winds died down and the sounds grew fainter until it was gone completely.

Joey was shaking under his arm and he gave her a quick squeeze of reassurance before turning to Chris. “Alright, Brother?”

“Gettin’ there,” he breathed, green eyes tightly shut.

“Is everyone alright?” someone asked.

“Is it gone?”

Someone used their phone light to illuminate the room. Some things had fallen to the floor due to the shaking and some of the lights were just barely hanging on, but, like others built on the West Coast, the building was able to withstand a strong earthquake so the shaking didn’t bother it too much.

Joey shakily dislodged and straightened out when the others started coming in from down the hall.

“Everyone alright in here?” Jerry held his phone out, too. “No casualties in the building.”

“But there’s no Hollywood sign anymore,” a different guy sadly informed them. “Tornado got it.”

When everyone slowly filed out into the hall, Josiah winced as he saw a two by four half buried in the corner of a wall.

“Looks like half of the gym’s gone,” someone reported.

“At least the door’s open, now,” Joey shrugged. “It was attached to the gym,” she explained to Josiah.

A few other places in the building were damaged, so they were very lucky. Others, on the other hand, were not.

In addition to the Hollywood sign, the Capitol Records building, LAX, the convention center and more than half of downtown, the local neighborhood was also half gone.

It was a very eerie thing, Josiah reflected, when one re-emerged to see a two story house across the street now down to one. There was a lot of damage done to the local houses and debris was strewn all over the place.

“I think we should go back home,” a few voiced. Some did and others stayed to help clean up the youth center and the local residents.

“I think we’ll head back to the hotel,” Josiah told Joey. “At least to change and to check on other things.”

“We’ll be back around,” Chris told her.

“Okay,” she nodded, before heading off with a wave to find a place to be.

“Some trip,” Chris shook his head.

“Let’s pray nothing more interesting happens,” he sighed as they hurried off toward their hotel that was hopefully still standing.

“We can only hope, Preacher. We can only hope.”

** **

Vin paced restlessly in his room as he tried getting a hold of either Chris or Josiah.

‘Power’s probably out,’ he growled, roughly running a hand through his hair. His television was rerunning coverage of Los Angeles and he just _knew_ that the boys were right in the middle of it.

He grit his teeth as another call failed and he flung it onto the bed in favor of gripping his hair.

The fear that his brother might not have made it sent ice through his body and straight to his heart. Feeling cooped in, he barreled out the door and almost crashed right into Carter.

“Vin? Everything alright?” he steadied him.

“No, everything _ain’t_ ‘alright’,” he tried to keep from snapping at the man, but was unsuccessful. “Chris and Josiah are both in LA and I cain’t get a one of them on the phone!”

“Yeah, there are a lot of outages out there,” Carter exhaled. “I used to live there not that long ago. I’m waiting to hear from some former co-workers who live in the area and the only reason I’m not tearing my hair out from complete worry is that my ex is in Europe and my daughter’s at Harvard, so I don’t need to worry about them. Just calm down, alright? You can’t do anything from here.”

“I’ll feel a lot better when my four other teammates get in from overseas.”

Carter hesitated. “I… don’t think so.”

“What?” Vin’s eyes snapped to his apologetic ones. “Why? Carter, tell me.”

** **

JD Dunne liked to imagine that he was his own person.

He didn’t like to think that he was easily swayed without reason into thinking a certain way and Buck Wilmington could attest that he had a good head on his shoulders, “even if he was still wet behind the ears.”

So, that being said, when someone told him to jump, he didn’t blindly ask how high.

But, this was something different.

When Ezra had told him that they were leaving, him, Buck and Nathan had all been set to argue with him because there were still a few lectures left and JD really wanted to go to one of them.

The undercover agent had told them they were going and that was that. No rhyme or reason, just something that sounded an awful lot like an order. Nathan would have really let him have it, too, right up until Ezra had glanced out the window and turned a white that JD had never seen outside of a hospital.

When asked what was wrong, Ezra had said that there were no more birds. And JD agreed.

It had been really surreal when he looked out to see nothing where he had seen birds every day since they arrived.

That was when Ezra explained that Vin had said that all the birds in New York and Denver and Oregon had all picked up and left without a trace. It meant that something was coming. Vin wanted them back in the States and – Ezra’s crush notwithstanding – JD knew that the Texan was worried about them, which was part of the reason that half of the quartet was now packed and ready to go.

If only they could get a plane ticket!

Nathan was fine tooth-combing his room and Buck was just stuffing some breakfast in his mouth as he cleaned up his, while Ezra restlessly paced JD’s room and kept an eye outside where a light rain was just starting to fall. The normally put-together Southerner was coming apart at the seams and it only made JD worried and determined to find the next flight out as soon as possible.

It was almost scary, how Ezra was acting like the world was ending.

JD’s cellphone rang and he pounced on it. “Yeah, hello?”

_“Kid?”_

“Vin!” he barely noticed Ezra whipping around to stare at him. “Ez told us what you told him and Nate’s really, really sorry about insisting we stay, but now we’re trying to get a flight home because you said that birds leaving meant that we should, too, only we can’t get a flight from here to New York!”

_“Who else is there?”_

“Ezra.”

_“Get Nate and Buck.”_

“Okay. Ez, Vin wants to talk to all of us. Can you get them?”

It was only a few moments before all four were gathered around JD’s phone, which was put on speaker.

“Sorry, Vin,” Nathan rubbed his face. “You, too, Ez. I just wish it was explained to us before I realized you had a reason for wanting to leave.”

“Not to worry, Mr. Jackson,” he smiled wanly. “All has been forgiven. I, too, must take the blame for not coming up with a reasonable explanation in a timely manner.”

“Now, say that again,” Buck tilted his head with a smile. “I got half of that.” It was clearly a tension breaking ploy, but Ezra gamely dumbed it down, apologizing for not explaining before the order flew out of his mouth.

 _“It’s more than fine, Nate,”_ Vin sighed _. “But that plan’s been scrapped. You boys have ta get out of Spain.”_

“But why can’t we get a flight?” JD wanted to know. “And where would we go?”

“ _Planes’re grounded,”_ Vin’s voice was tight. _“No one’s comin’ in or out by air. Two planes went down ‘cause a’ turbulence and… any of you call Chris or ‘Siah?”_

The change of subject had them exchanging looks.

“No,” Buck slowly answered. “Should we have?”

Vin let out a deeper sigh and there was a rustle as he moved his arm to run a hand down his face. _“Look, I don’t have anything on them, but I just sat here for almost an hour watching freakin’ twisters tear apart Los Angeles.”_

“ ** _WHAT!_** ”

_“Yeah.”_

“But no way!” JD shook his head.

“They were both there,” Nathan scrubbed at his head. “That conference.”

“Where were they when this was going on?” Buck demanded to know.

 _“I don’t know,”_ Vin said heavily. _“They coulda been anywhere in that city. One of them could’ve been asleep at the hotel, but I don’t know. I’ve been tryin’, but Carter’s sayin’ that a lot of power’s down. And what other calls are flooding through are overloading the switchboard already.”_

JD glanced at Ezra, who had backed against the wall to slide down to the floor where he sat curled up in a ball. JD knew he didn’t feel for Chris and Josiah what he felt for Vin, but Chris was like a cousin to him – having taken him on when no one else would – and Josiah was like an older brother or a favored uncle. JD himself felt like curling up, too.

He could only imagine how Buck felt; he and Chris were almost as close as brothers. So were Chris and Vin, come to think of it, so would that make Vin and Buck half-brothers?

“So, we leave,” Nathan sighed, straightening up. “Any ideas where?”

 _“South,”_ Vin answered. “ _It’s snowin’ up North, over there.”_

“And South is where we will go,” Ezra leaned his head back up against the wall, eyes steely with determination.

“I’ll keep an eye on things from my end,” JD promised. “And we’ll try catching Chris and Josiah.”

“ _Keep me posted as long as you can,”_ Vin swallowed. _“There’s a storm overhead that’s takin’ days to leave and it’s a very good chance that power’s gonna be knocked out before it’s gone.”_

“Alright,” Buck rubbed his eyes. “Alright.”

 _“Take care of yourselves, boys,”_ Vin told them. _“I’ll… call back as soon as I can.”_

“We’ll be waiting,” Ezra promised before Vin hung up.

The four spent a long moment staring at each other.

“Well, alright,” Buck stood, rubbing his hands together. “Time to get crackin’.”

JD abandoned his search for a flight, because they weren’t going to get one. He turned his attention to ground transport. Nothing they did was going to make a damn bit of difference in a city a world away.

Getting themselves as far south as humanly possible, and keeping themselves safe doing it, was their top priority now. Lucky they had Nate with them, right?

…

His joke fell flat, even in his head. That was a new low.

JD sighed as he ran a hand down his face.

This European adventure was certainly shaping up to be just that.

** *

Dr. Louis Hern was not a stupid man.

Sure, he may be a bit scatterbrained sometimes, and it was only natural to forget placing his favorite pencil behind his ear or in his hair before forgetting it until finding it hours later by accident.

But he was not unobservant.

He knew about Zane Donovan’s work on the ‘virus’ and the increasingly baffling readings coming in on the environmental equipment and now the meteorological department was claiming the same virus was affecting them.  

So when the young man came tearing down the hall with his laptop – hell-bound and determined to get to Dr. Stark’s office – a few short hours ago, almost running him over and acting like the world’s ending was nigh, Hern had to wonder what in the world he found that was making him react like this and whether it had anything to do with everything else going on in the world.

But now, standing stock-still in the middle of the Sheriff’s office, staring in mute silence at the scene in front of him, Hern had the worse suspicion that the world’s ending _was_ nigh.

He swallowed heavily as dread started filling him.

‘This is no virus,’ he shakily smoothed a hand over his hair. ‘Those readings are real, Donovan has figured it out and the world as we know it will probably end within the next week or more.’

His armadillo, affectionately named so by the man who owned the chair it was inhabiting, was curled into a tight ball. The now snow white ball wasn’t moving.

Hern felt his lips thin as he tried not to let overwhelming panic take his imagination over.

‘Unresponsive, color-changed, ball.’

There was a list somewhere in his office of what not to expect from this project.

At least, what not to expect in this lifetime and he dutifully memorized each and every word on the list.

But this?

This scenario was a Code Zero event.

_A Code Zero Event._

And that was…

Significant.

** *


	10. Operation...Something

 

* * *

 

 

Laura awkwardly patted a girl’s shoulder as the raven haired other sniffled into her handful of tissues.

She was just one of the many students – both visitors and residents – who had someone in Los Angeles and they were all worried about friends and family.

Laura wasn’t entirely sure how she ended up in this situation, but she was doing her best to seem supportive toward others who were away from home and without their usual support group.

She didn’t think she was doing a good job.

When another girl saw Laura’s dilemma, she asked her to find some water before taking her place as Laura gratefully slunk off to find some drinks. She found Sam not long after.

“Shame about the competition,” he commented, sipping some hot chocolate.

She leveled a look at him. “You aren’t sorry,” she told him. “Be honest.”

“Okay, you’re right,” he smirked. “I’m not. Though I am sorry about not being sorry about the competition.”

“Yeah, that I can believe,” she relented. After dropping the water off and checking to make sure she was no longer needed, she dragged Sam off to a corner niche and kept an eye out for Brian.

In a way, she was relieved about the Decathlon being postponed. With the Los Angeles outbreak and planes unable to fly, everyone was in a tizzy. Everyone’s concentration was shot – never mind nerves – and there were people that the administrators cared about, too. Rumor had it that a relative of one of the teachers had been on one of the planes that went down, but Laura wasn’t sure enough to believe it.

“Why did you decide to join the team, anyway?” Laura kept an eye out for their friend as she turned back to their earlier conversation.

Sam hesitated. “Well,” he finally shrugged under her curious gaze. “Someone has to pull you out of your Decathlon-induced study frenzy.”

Wow. That was… almost kind of sweet.

She felt her cheeks lightly heat at the thought that Sam cared about her. True, it was probably as a friend, but it was heartening nonetheless. Just like when he had complimented her last night on her appearance.

She turned her attention elsewhere to hide her pleased expression.

The crowd of other students showed a mix of shock, disbelief, devastation (though not solely because of anyone they knew – some had wanted to visit places that were destroyed), anxious impatience at trying to contact someone and others were just not sure what to think.

Laura was sorry for those affected, but it didn’t seem to impact her life very much even though she may have wanted to visit Hollywood some day in the future.

She probably still could, but it wouldn’t be the same.

“Do you see Brian?” she asked Sam, who straightened his neck out to look.

“No. I thought he was in the bathroom earlier.”

“He might still be there,” she mused. “Do you want to go and look?”

“Where, exactly, do you seem in a hurry to go?” he turned back. “We’re kind of stuck here.” Both in New York and inside; the storm seemed to be getting worse, if that was even possible, but Laura was still holding out hope that they could get a train out of the City. The school was letting all the visitors stay until they could get some way home.

“Well, I don’t know,” she sighed, wringing her hands. “I know I’m supposed to be emotionally supportive to other girls, but I am not good at it. I wasn’t before and it probably won’t improve very much now. What am I supposed to say?” she desperately wanted to know.

He winced in response. “I’m not very good at being supportive, either,” he shrugged, looking slightly uneasy now that he was thinking about it. “I know that I’m supposed to be a supportive kind of person to my Mom, but she kind of works odd hours – you know about her being a doctor – and I kind of get the feeling she doesn’t want to unload a lot of trouble on me.”

“I’m sure you try your hardest,” she assured.

He gave a jerky nod and went back to look for Brian.

Laura bit her lip as she ducked her head. It probably wasn’t the kind of thing that you talked about in a crowded hallway. She could feel a sort of tension between them now. “I’m sorry for prying…”

“Nah, don’t be,” he gave her a quicksilver smile. “It’s not your fault my parents split.”

‘But it wasn’t yours, either,’ she glanced at him. She had both heard and read that the children of divorced parents mostly blamed themselves for something that was out of their control – or for even more of a complex issue that went deeper than they.

In any case, Brian finally appeared looking harried. “Let’s go,” he tugged them off. “Before I get cornered again.”

They found themselves a corner in the _massive_ library to hide in and Laura had to smile as Sam immediately drifted off to sleep while Brian headed off to look for books.

She was content to stay in her armchair by the window, the sounds of a stormy day providing a comforting background interspersed by soft breathing and the rustle of pages being turned.

Within that bubble, she could pretend that nothing was wrong as the world turned around her.

** **

While Laura relaxed in New York, in Montana, Billy was honestly about to throw caution to the wind and punch Jerk’s lights out.

If it wasn’t bad enough with students panicking because of Los Angeles, planes were now out of the question. With unstable flight conditions alone, Billy was resigned to waiting a few more days for Alan’s return.

But students affected by Los Angeles wanted to go home or at least keep from being distractions in class, where their concentration would have already been shot to hell in the first place. Billy was so very understanding and hadn’t questioned any emails from out of state kids about why they weren’t in class.

The President, however, was not.

He was refusing to let anyone skip class, threatening intense consequences, and he didn’t seem to be responding with a sensitivity that Billy thought most college/university presidents should have. And his son, thinking to offer his company in light of Alan’s absence, was convinced Billy was depressed.

This was _far_ from the case.

Right now, Billy was hiding in his favorite spot, working out his frustrations and trying to imagine his fists pounding Jerk.

“Are you okay in there, Brennan?” Erin tapped the door a few times.

“Yeah.”

_Punch_

“I’m fine.”

_Punch_

“Dandy.”

_Punch_

“Why?”

“Well, forgive me for straying off the mark and all, but if you hit any harder, Grant’s poor couch may decide to revolt.”

Stopping, Billy hung his head down with a sigh. “I’m trying to not end up in prison for murder, Erin.”

“Like anyone’ll blame you,” her snort was clearly heard on Billy’s side of Alan’s office door.

“Thanks for your concern,” he sighed and flopped back against the cushions.

“Seriously, though. Un-barricade yourself and let me in.”

“It’s welded shut.”

“Get up off your skinny butt and move the bookcase back to where you found it. C’mon, Billy. Jerk’s somehow got it into his head that I have influence over you and he’s been trying to corner me to convince you to date him.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” he immediately jumped up off the couch and had the bookshelf moved far enough for him to open the door. “Didn’t mean to abandon you.”

Erin slid in and locked the door, helping the young man replace the bookshelf up against the door.

The smaller desk, lamp, smallish filing cabinet and collapsible chair followed for good measure.

“Now, then,” Erin flopped down onto the couch next to him. “What’s with the sulking?”

“It’s not sulking,” he refuted. “It’s protection.”

“From Jerk?” she raised a brow.

“To keep me from killing Jerk.”

“Ah. But again, I think you’ll have plenty of airtight alibis.”

“Which is beside the point.”

“Yeah. It really sucks that the Prez is a cold SOB. So what are we going to do?” She thought for a minute. “You know that junior? The Psychic?”

“There is no evidence of Misha being psychic,” he scowled at her, even though he personally believed something of the sort highly probable.

“Yeah, well, she’s gotten very jittery over the past couple days. Would you happen to know why?”

Erin knew that Billy not only believed that Misha had some kind of abilities, but that he highly encouraged her to come to him with any concerns she might have. Any news on the Psychic front and Billy would be the first to know.

“She thinks something might be coming,” he remembered the look in her eyes and shivered. The girl had believed it. “She also said that the animals and bugs knew something with enough warning to take off.”

“The rabbits,” Erin nodded in understanding.

“To say the least.”

“And what does she want to do?”

“She wants to leave the school and I think some of her friends are getting just as unnerved enough to think about following her.”

Erin pressed her lips together. “And you?”

“I think she’ll take me with her,” he lifted a shoulder. “But I’m not leaving everyone here just to save a few people.”

“So, you’ll evacuate the school?” she leaned back against the backrest. “The Prez isn’t going to go off the word of, first, you and second, a girl not even in her twenties yet. Besides the fact that he would probably twist your words into some kind of threat to justify firing you or getting you expelled or something.”

“Alan will just quit after me,” Billy told her. It had been something that the older man had repeatedly assured him of while he was convalescing. Billy had been worried about what happened and how that might impact both himself and Alan and the older man had calmly taken each of Billy’s worries only to dismantle them in a way that made Billy wonder if he’d thought about it in great detail before.

“Well, if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”

“What does love have to do with it? He said that I am probably the only one he can immediately trust to not stab him in the back.”

“Yeah, because you love him too much to, so I say it’s possible. But the Prez is still not gonna let some dinosaur upstart shake his control.” Because the Prez wanted a public image of control almost as much as he wanted the money that tuition would bring for new kids.

If the Prez showed people how much control he had over his campus kingdom, then others would assume that there would be no trouble and would believe that there was nowhere safer to send their kids. It wasn’t a proven fact, but rumor had it that his need for control drove his late wife to…

As already stated, rumor.

But there was interesting evidence to support the theory.

And if the Prez having a beef with Alan – and therefore Billy by default – wasn’t bad enough, then Jerk inheriting his father’s need for control, albeit to a lesser degree, was even worse and asking for trouble.

That was one of the reasons that Billy suspected the man was so interested in him. He probably felt like he had something to prove to his father, so he would take on a ‘trouble-maker sympathizer’ and straighten out his attitude.

Besides being an actual jerk on top of it all.

“But if it comes down to it,” Billy raked a hand through his curls. “I’ll have to do something, Erin. I won’t sit back and think about myself at such a large expense.”

“Which means you may have to order an evacuation yourself,” she whistled. “Not like I won’t be up there in front of the firing squad with you when we eventually get caught, but that’s probably illegal and at least worthy of some jail time.”

“I know, but Misha came to me with her concerns. She believes something’s coming and I am more inclined to believe her than anyone else.”

“And you have to admit,” Erin shrugged. “Not like Prez and Jerk didn’t bring this on themselves somehow, what with not believing those talks about climate change.”

If anything, a lot of others – mostly powerful rich people with influence – agreed with the Prez, so it probably wouldn’t make much difference going to the top.

“That means that you’ll need help figuring out what to do,” Erin grinned, mischief in her dark eyes. “I am your partner in crime, so if it comes down to it, I’ll _literally_ be your partner in crime.”

As far as crazy friends go, Billy had to laugh, Erin was one of those people who you wanted with you in a fight. Of any kind.

“So, Operation Underground Railroad is a go!”

“We are not calling it OUR,” he scowled.

“So you think. Does Misha get out of class right about now?” she looked around. “We’ll need her advice.”

As if on cue, a knock on the door signaled another potential co-conspirator.

“Is anyone in there?”

“Misha!” Erin grinned. “Just in time. Me and Brennan are about to shake this place up.”

Billy just covered his eyes, wondering how people knew where to look for him all of a sudden.

“Did Billy move the filing cabinet and the bookcase in front of the door again?”

“It’s only because Alan’s not here, isn’t it?” Billy gamely stood to clear the door for her.

“Yeah, but only because he’s the guard dog,” Erin shrugged. “No one would dare disturbing you in fear of incurring his wrath.”

Misha was finally cleared to enter and she huffed a sigh, a smile on her face, as she watched Billy return his barricade to its place.

“Something we can do for you?” Erin leaned back as Misha took a seat on the other end.

The junior looked between them uncertainly. Billy noticed from his spot against the bookcase.

“Don’t worry. I told her about it. She’s volunteered to help do what we can.”

Erin nodded eagerly. “I’m all for Operation Meteor Shower,” she assured.

“We aren’t calling it that, either,” Billy sighed, moving to plop between them on the sofa.

Misha looked between them and frowned. “I’m not sure what’s going on here.”

“The initial planning stages for Operation Rainstorm,” Erin explained.

“She means the school’s impending evacuation, which is _not_ being called Operation Rainstorm,” Billy told her.

“So, we will leave?” Misha seemed to deflate with relief. “Because I have had to talk myself out of just walking away and not stopping.”

“Well, if it comes to it, you won’t be by yourself,” Billy assured. “We’re going to end up having to evacuate the school ourselves.”

“And we were just beginning to plan out who was going first and where we were going, how we were going and what to do about Jerk and Jerk Senior,” Erin put her arms out on either side, propping them on the backrest and sofa arm. “The three of us are the ones who will be forever remembered as the Masterminds behind Operation Tsunami.”

“… Well, we’ll be remembered as the masterminds, anyway,” Billy leaned over to prop his elbows against his knees as he stared at the floor in thought.

“Oh, c’mon,” Erin pushed his shoulder. “We’re doing something that might as well be illegal! We need a cool name like… Dino Stampede.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Avalanche?”

“NO.”

“Damnit.”

 

** ** **

 

“… So, you mean to tell me that there was no such thing as a virus?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Silence.

“And you’re absolutely _sure_ it’s not a virus?”

“Fargo!”

“Alright, alright,” he held his hands up. “It’s just… hard to believe.”

Zane scrubbed a hand through his already disturbed hair. “Tell me about it. The only reason I started second-guessing the virus theory was that a few of the equipment had just gone through maintenance and some had just been placed. Well, that and I also looked into the crazy weather going on. Two ridiculously timed events does not a malfunction make.”

The smaller man mulled it over for a few moments. “So, no virus. All real?”

“Fargo…”

“Okay, just to be completely sure. I have highly sensitive, _legally_ sanctioned projects going on.”

Zane rolled his eyes at him. “For the last time, Larry has _no_ designs on your Alan Grant books.”

“That’s what you think,” he scoffed. “You’ve never seen him drooling over them.”

Zane threw his hands up.

Really. This feud or something between the two of them was quickly getting to the edge of ridiculous.

Or just past it.

Zane was about to open his mouth to respond when he heard his name being bellowed at the top of someone’s lungs.

“Oh, hey, Hern,” he lifted a hand in a wave.

“Dr. Hern!” Fargo immediately turned to watch the frazzled redhead skid to a stop before them. “Did you find your armadillo?”

“I need to find Stark,” he told Zane. There was something in his tone that made Zane look closely at him. An underlying sort of panic had been beaten into submission, but he could still see it in the man’s eyes trying to break through.

“He can’t be disturbed,” Fargo told him. “I think he’s having some quiet time.”

‘That or mooning over Carter again,’ Zane huffed to himself. What was the reason for them not being together?

“Look, it’s very important that I speak to him immediately,” Hern insisted, twisting the strap of his messenger bag.

“Well, I can’t interrupt him without good reason,” Fargo pushed up his glasses. “I’ll probably end up fired before the week is out.”

“How many times have you been ‘fired’ by now?” Zane had to ask.

“No, you need to listen to me! I need to talk to him now!”

“Well, what makes you have more importance than a pile of paperwork?” Fargo challenged. “Donovan’s given him a thick report to go through.”

“What makes me more important than a stack of papers?” he parroted in disbelief. He blinked a few times before digging in his bag. “Well, if you _must_ know, I did, in fact, find my armadillo. When I went looking for it, I found _this_ in Carter’s office.” In a dramatic flourish, he held up… a white ball.

Fargo and Zane exchanged glances.

“So…” Fargo eyed it curiously. “This is bad…? I mean, it obviously means something really, really horrible.”

“Yes!” Hern nodded, eyes wild. “That’s why I need to see Stark!”

Zane opened his mouth, thought better of it, then closed it. “Um?”

“Yeah… Dr. Stark will probably not be very impressed with a white ball being shoved into his face,” Fargo stage-whispered to Zane, who slowly nodded.

Hern rolled his eyes upward in request for patience. “This ‘white ball’ is the armadillo!”

“… Still not getting it,” Fargo admitted. “Unless you mean it’s now an explosive device, then you probably shouldn’t still be standing around talking to us when you could be racing down to someone who knows where Deputy Lupo is hiding right now.”

“Just – Look at it!”

“It’s a white, medium sized, ball,” Zane offered.

“Do either of you even know what this proj – No,” he was almost visibly counting from ten in his head. Probably in four languages, if Zane was any judge. “This is a scenario only known by one name.”

“Yes? And?” Fargo frowned. “Enough dramatic pauses, Hern. Say what it is you want us to do!”

“Code. Zero.”

And just like that, Fargo went dead still, eyes rounding. “A Code – A Code _Zero_?” he squeaked. “But – but that…” he slowly turned to stare at Zane. “That… makes sense.” Something must have clicked into place, because Fargo suddenly turned and took off back toward Stark’s office and left Zane staring after him.

He turned to see a satisfied Hern put his armadillo/ball back in his bag. “A Code Zero? Huh. We have a Code Zero,” he nodded. “Since when?”

“Oh,” Hern shrugged. “It’s been in place for what seems like ever.”

And then…

Since Carter wasn’t there and someone had to say it:

“What exactly _is_ a Code Zero?”

** **


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a different note, did a certain character seem kind of... oh, I don't know, *familiar* to you within the last chapter or so?

* * *

 

 

Laura wandered the halls.

Every once in a while, she ran into another student on their own rounds through the school, but they usually just nodded and hurried off.

Everything was quiet just before dinner and she felt a restless energy.

She had tagged along with some of the girls when they went to explore a small shopping center down the street to get their minds off what happened.

Sam and Brian had gotten wrapped up in a game of Monopoly and Scrabble, respectively, and they either stayed on the same round or started another one by the time she got back some hours later.

She bought a little notepad and a green gel pen small enough to be stowed in the notebook’s spiral. Both were small enough to fit in her jacket pocket.

Glancing out a window, she watched the storm for a few minutes and hoped that Carter was doing alright, wherever he was. He had told them that he was going to be a few days, at least, but he hadn’t been sure when he would go back home except that he was waiting for his friend in DC to finish her business so they could go home together.

She wondered if he was still in the City or if he had driven off somewhere. Maybe he was already back in DC.

She glanced at her watch and shook her head as she turned on her heel and returned to her small room shared with three other girls.

She’d never even thought of going to a boarding school and, well, to be honest, the idea appealed to her. It made her feel like the Hermione Granger character in the Harry Potter books. Staying at the school and seeing her friends all day, every day. Granted, she didn’t have magic, but she could pretend that she was a… Ravenclaw on her way to dinner with her fellow Ravenclaw Brian and perhaps she would get to catch a few words with Sam Hall, the dashing Gryffindor with a heart of gold.

By the time Laura appeared to sit between her friends, she had lived through Snape’s Potions class, stayed awake – by some miracle – through Binns’ History of Magic class and managed to survive Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Brian grinned at her ‘wand-waving’.

“I am Fourth Year Ravenclaw Laura Chapman,” she beamed back. “You are Brian, also my Year and House.”

“So, that would automatically make Sam a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff,” Brian mused.

“I can’t be a Slytherin?” he frowned over Laura’s head.

“Hate to tell you this, man,” he chuckled, “but among the many things you are, evil is not one o them.”

“I could have a dark side,” he protested.

“You would make the _worst_ Slytherin!” Brian laughed.

Laura left them to it, happily eating her dinner while she listened. Neither asked her opinion – Brian thinking he’d gotten Sam pegged - , but she didn’t mind.

Eventually, a few others got involved and the debate went on from there.

It was nice to pretend to be a boarding school kid, but Laura privately decided that she was glad that she got to come home every day.

**

_“I can’t believe it. A Code Zero event.”_

“I couldn’t believe it, either, but I have the evidence right here.”

A sigh echoed down the line. “ _Are you following protocols?”_

“Being put in place as we speak,” Nathan was sat in his chair, elbow resting on the surface of his desk while his free hand massaged his forehead.

Donovan’s report was half open before him and Hern’s armadillo was still in a ball on the conference table, wrapped up in an extra lab coat to keep from catching a chill.

‘What?’ Donovan had scowled when he looked up and realized he was being stared at. ‘It has feelings, too. How would you like it if we started talking over you and left you to get sick?’

Nathan had just chalked it up to him spending too much time hanging out with Carter and promptly forgot about it.

Allison gave another sigh. _“When the Code Zero protocols were set up, no one thought an Event would happen like this.”_

“I know.”

Nathan wasn’t entirely certain how Allison and Jack would get back, although it did make sense to have them drive.

 _“I knew there was snow falling in Northern Europe_ ,” Allison went on _, “but I never dreamed it was connected to Code Zero.”_

“So, I suppose we need to wait until the White House comes up with a State of Emergency, then.”

 _“If the snow is falling so hard in Europe already, then it’s pretty much only a matter of time until it really starts falling in America_ ,” she pointed out.

Nathan hummed in agreement.

If this system was the same as the one battering Europe, it would soon start snowing in the North within the next few or more days.

Allison could have a better chance than Jack at getting out while the coming global superstorm took its sweet time getting its act together.

“Whatever should happen, be careful,” Nathan told her.

“ _I will_ ,” she agreed. She was silent for a few moments. “ _What are we going to tell Carter?”_

“I don’t know,” Nathan shook his head. He didn’t want the blond panicking about any of their discoveries when he was too far away to do any good to them. He might think it a good idea to try getting home. Should the weather prove in the near future to be as unpredictable as it has been now, Jack would more than likely get himself killed trying to make the journey back to Eureka.

But thinking about one Carter immediately brought to mind another.

“He can try getting out of New York to get to Zoe at Harvard,” Nathan mused. “But that would put them both in trouble. Zoe can try getting a ride to New York so she’s not in as much danger as she would be at Harvard.”

_“… Nathan?”_

“Then they could both stay in one place and we won’t have Carter worrying unnecessarily about his kid.”

_“Nathan.”_

“He would then stay put instead of trying to get himself killed on the way up there.”

She sighed. “ _Nathan._ ”

“At least I won’t have to tell Carter that his daughter is in any more danger than he is,” he shook his head with a small chuckle. “Could you imagine his reaction if I told him that his daughter was in Los Angeles during a tornado outbreak?”

 _“… I can imagine it very well_.”

It was at that point that Nathan picked out an odd tone in her voice and something suddenly occurred to him. “Allie,” he slowly covered his eyes as realization dawned. “Please tell me that child is at Harvard and not in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.”

_“…”_

“Allison!”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: The name Lanie is pronounced Lah-nee.
> 
> AN2: sorry it's almost an hour late. have a merry christmas/[insert holiday]! 
> 
> Don't worry, we'll be getting to some action soon.

* * *

 

 

Billy had an apartment off-campus.

Before the Island, he used it when not out on digs or off doing other things that was required of him. He had a lot of things stashed around the place, mostly souvenirs given to him, bought or found on his many travels.

After the Island, he couldn’t go there because he needed someone to watch him and help with his many injuries. Alan had gone above and beyond what Billy had expected of him and the younger man would have thought Alan had a personal interest in his recovery, but Billy knew that guilt was a huge motivator.

Alan had shown him over and over that he was sorry for what he said and Billy had told him over and over that there were no hard feelings. Billy had told him that he admitted that maybe he could have acted differently himself and that the blame was not solely on Alan’s shoulders.

After the Island, Alan had moved him into his place nearer to campus and, to be honest, that was something that Billy considered a home more than his own place. But after sending Alan to New York, Billy found himself unable to deal with that big empty space with just himself for company.

He just missed Alan that much more when he would run across an empty coffee mug or a post it note with scribbled words this side of just barely legible. The place was Alan’s first, so that meant that Alan was inscribed in every corner of it.

But while Alan’s office could also be considered a second home, there was just something more comforting about it.

And it didn’t hurt that the couch was actually sort of comfy.

Billy sighed and punched his pillow. If Erin were here, he knew exactly what she would say and he was glad she was in her own place off campus. The last thing he needed to hear was what he – might – have fantasized about a few times spoken aloud.

After their earlier meeting – which only solved transport and end location problems, and showed how resilient Erin was after the numerous name suggestions were shot down (“Operation Pixie Dust!” “Where in the _world_ do you come up with this stuff?”)- , Billy braved the small rainstorm to run to his room at Alan’s place for some more things before having an early dinner at the student café down the street.

Though, maybe it was too early to turn in. Then again, maybe he decided that if he slept more, Alan would come back faster…

Hey, it’s worked so far.

Billy gave a long suffering sigh before heaving himself up and taking down the barricade. He looked around to be sure Jerk wasn’t nearby before locking the office and taking the stairs down to the ground floor. Going out of the door, he looked around to see students still on campus whether finishing up the school day or resident students trying to tire themselves out before bed. Some were even talking about heading out to town for some nightlife fun, when he passed a group. Others, still, were in the library for homework or to use the computer for online use.

There were some of Alan’s students who cornered him for some answers about a few assignments and others asked about grades – mostly from those who seemed to be studying a program or something that required at least a C minus in all their classes, to which Billy sagely answered to keep up their grades before things piled up and that it was still early in the semester to think about it - , but it didn’t take long to detach himself and go back to wandering campus.

About an hour later, he was feeling calm enough to head back to the office to try reading a book that would put him to sleep. Alan was constantly amused when he fell asleep before finishing a page of Ian Malcolm’s book and never let him forget it.

He sighed as he headed back to the building that the office was housed in. He hopped into the elevator and pushed the button before leaning back against the railing to watch the numbers count up. Arriving on their floor, he headed down the hall and blinked as he saw Misha sitting cross-legged up against the door, still dressed in her pajamas, with her head down.

“Mish? Hey, what’s going on?” he crouched next to her, moving his head to try to catch a look at her face. “You alright?”

There was no answer. For all intents and purposes, it looked like she was asleep.

 “Misha? Hey,” he reached out to touch her shoulder when he saw a drip fall to the floor. Gut churning as realization dawned, he followed that drip and saw a small puddle of –

“Misha!” He gave a vague wince as his shove made her head connect with the door, but he was really too busy with a thin line of red coming from her nose to care.

Her eyes were blankly tracking something that only she could see as Billy tried keeping calm. He decided that the first thing that needed to happen was their removal from the hallway and maneuvered her slightly to clear the door.

Having settled her on the couch and cleaned up the puddle on the floor in the hall, he called Erin.

“ _Brennan, if someone’s not dead or dying,”_ she grumbled, _“I’m telling Grant you quit and disappeared back to New Zealand.”_

“Erin, this is serious. Misha’s here and she’s having some sort of fit. Get over here and help me figure out an actual evacuation plan. We need to start thinking _now_.”

 _“And you’re positive that this is some kind of signal to get the hell out of dodge?”_ she questioned, noises on her end telling him that she was getting dressed out of her comfy clothes. While she could have just shown up as is, Erin had once told Billy that comfy was for home and she did her best thinking in ‘actual’ clothes.

“Well, I don’t know what else it could be!” he grabbed a fistful of his curls and tugged. “We can’t let on to other parties what exactly is going on.”

“ _There’s a kid in the Biology department who’s something of a hacker_ ,” she told him. _“Get her in on this. We can trust her not to talk.”_

“Okay. You’ll have to approach her,” he grabbed another handful of tissues. “I’m going to be looking after Misha.”

 _“I’ll be there soon,”_ she hung up and Billy set the phone on the table to try bringing Misha out of it.

When Erin showed up with a vaguely familiar blonde, Misha was just coming back to reality.

“Billy?” she rubbed her eyes. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“You gave us the signal to start evacuating,” he told her, relief making him hug her gently.

“I did?”

“Alright,” Lanie Arten announced, using Alan’s computer to get into the system. “What I can do is get an email list of all the current students to send a message. That would keep ‘other parties’ from sticking their noses in. I can also find who has the biggest cars and send them on the road first.”

“That’s good,” Billy approved. “Send them directions or something to Las Vegas. Once we get the big cars, trucks and vans on the road, send out for smaller ones. Or we can mix it up three small to one big.”

“Start with the students instead of the staff,” Erin advised. “I really think that at least five teachers are shady enough to alert someone else.”

“Pick a driver,” Billy decided. “Send out a message to those assigned to that driver and tell them only the basics that will get them going. Tell them to meet in front of the library and let them know what car to look for. Make them send a confirmation email and call those who don’t answer within a half hour. Pack only what you can’t live without. Some clothes and personals, including whatever papers they have, bathroom and medical needs.”

“But we need to time this out,” Erin curled a lock of hair around her finger in thought. “Someone will notice if all of us go at once.”

It was decided to send a batch of emails to enough people to fill three cars at once. Every half hour, those three cars would be sent out to make the eleven plus hour ride to Las Vegas, starting at midnight.

Billy just hoped that whatever was going to happen didn’t end up killing them all because of his ‘good intentions’, which threw him back to what Alan said about good intentions leading to Jurassic Park and Billy being the cause of a pack of raptors chasing them all over Sorna.

The way Misha seemed to collapse in relief against his arm, however, made him tamp down on his doubts and maybe think that it was going to be alright.

**

Josiah huffed out a sigh as he dropped another trash bag on the pile.

‘At least the hotel was relatively undamaged.’ That was a plus if he ever heard one.

The convention center and airport were both goners and there were so many other issues, it wasn’t funny. Not that it was to begin with.

Josiah and Chris were still trying to get through to the others, but the power lines were down almost all over the place. Josiah could only imagine what they were going through. Vin must be beside himself with worry all by himself in New York. Buck must be imagining nightmare scenarios in Europe and JD, Nathan and Ezra were probably dealing with differing levels of worry.

Not that Josiah thought Ezra hated him or Chris, no. Josiah just wondered if the Southerner he looked on as a son wasn’t pre-occupied with thoughts of Vin. Not like their feelings for each other were secret.

Josiah smiled slightly as he thought about their interactions before four of their number went overseas. Like schoolboys, the both of them, glancing at each other and blushing slightly. Though, Vin must have gone to Ezra before the trip. Josiah was of the opinion that they were both doing unnecessary things to try keeping each other at a distance, which would probably end up working itself out in the long run.

“Hey, Josiah,” he looked up to see a grim Joey as she lugged two more trash bags toward him. “Thanks for helping with the clean-up.”

“Not at all, Sister,” he smiled reassuringly. “It’s our… well, perhaps not ‘pleasure’,” he amended, wrinkling his nose at the wreck of a neighborhood.

“Not like we can do anything else,” Chris chimed in, returning from helping the local police and fire departments do body recovery. The grim look on his face told his friend just what he needed to know. There had been bodies. Multiple bodies.

Josiah leaned on his shovel. There was still wooden debris to pick up and stray papers to gather, but a lot of the people around seemed to still be in shock. Josiah understood that tornadoes didn’t usually hit this part of California, so he didn’t hound people to keep working like some others would. And it hadn’t only been in Los Angeles, either.

The surrounding areas were just as hard hit, although Downtown Los Angeles had taken the brunt of it. They popped up with little to no warning and the frequency was just astounding. The radio had been running reports to those without access to television or phone lines.

The interstates in and out of LA were full of twisted metal that used to be cars. It would take a long time to get everything cleared up, not to mention that there was still traffic that was just beginning to clear up heading out of the city.

Until they could get ahold of Travis back in Denver, they were pretty much stuck where they were.

In the meantime, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon and they had all had a long day.

“If you don’t want to stick around, Joey,” Josiah offered, “we can work on.”

“Oh, no,” she shook her head. “I’m used to cleaning up and hearing about things happening. My dad used to be a Marshal and he’s a Sheriff, now. I can keep up.”

“I’ve been wondering what it is ‘Joey’ stands for, anyway,” Chris admitted. “And now that I think of it, we never did introduce ourselves.”

Joey, they suspected, only knew their names because she’d overheard others call them, but neither had actually come out and said who they were.

So, they formally introduced themselves.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” she shook their hands with a firm grip. “And ‘Joey’ doesn’t really stand for anything. It’s sort of not even my actual name, but mom kind of sprung this on me, saying that she wanted to spend time with me. Dad doesn’t even know I’m here and I’m not sure if I should have told him. I don’t want him to worry about me, which I know he would do. He’s probably too busy running after robots to be bothered right now, though I’m probably going to try calling sometime later, when they get the power back on.”

“That might not be until a few days from now,” Chris noted.

“I know, which means we’ll probably be seeing each other more in the next few days.”

“So, what? Are we supposed to call you Not Joey for the next few days?” Chris teased.

“Well, my mom set this up, like I said, and she told someone on the phone and it was too late by the time I got my nametag. It worked out because a lot of the little kids can’t actually say my real name.”

“Alright, Ms. Not Joey,” Josiah smiled widely. “Who are you, then?”

“Zoe,” she smiled back. “Zoe Carter.”

**


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope all has had a happy [insert holiday]!
> 
> Have a surprise present, on me. ;)

 

* * *

 

 

Jack was pretty sure that his cellphone was _this_ close to buying it.

For once in a long time, he finally gets the chance to sleep in and what happens? His phone rings.

Sighing, he let his arm snake out from the blanket he’d cocooned himself in and felt around next to him on the mattress for the infernal thing.

“If Fargo’s about to end the world,” he answered it, “at least give me an hour to get dressed and drink one last cup of coffee from the most awesome server on floor Ten.”

“Sorry, Jack,” Henry Deacon laughed in his ear. “Fargo’s too busy running around to do anything like that. No, I actually called to tell you that you’re cleared to get it tomorrow. I’ll send along the rest of the information later today.”

“Alright,” he grumbled. Henry rang off a few minutes later, Jack not thinking twice about what Henry could have been doing up in the early hours of the morning.

About two hours later, he re-emerged from sleep and got ready to face the stormy day ahead. He left his room and entered the hall to see Vin coming toward him.

“Off to your meeting?”

“Debatin’ whether to stay there until the next meeting or come back and forth from here.”

“And you’re done for the week?” he confirmed, an idea sparking in his head. Something must have shown on his face because Vin smiled slightly and tilted his head.

“Somethin’ on your mind?”

“Henry said that he wants me to meet up with this guy of his tomorrow.”

“And you want me to come with you,” Vin nodded. “Think he’s dangerous?”

“I don’t know, but better safe than sorry, right?”

“Alright, ya twisted my arm,” he grinned, slapping Jack on his. “I’ll watch your back if ya want.”

“Thanks,” he breathed a sigh of relief. It may not be necessary, but Jack would feel better with having someone at his back who knew how to handle a weapon.

Vin winked at him. “Don’t you worry, Carter. If this guy proves dangerous, you’ll be fine.”

“And if he’s another scientist who’s more brains than brawn and he’s alone?”

“Well, you don’t know that,” he shrugged. “I’d probably still go with you, anyway. Us former Marshals have to stick together, right?”

“That’s right,” Jack started heading for the elevator. “You’re one, too. And an ATF sniper now.”

“Yup,” Vin fell into step with him. “And even if you don’t need me tomorrow, I’ll still go with you. And,” he added with a grin, “I won’t laugh at you too much if it turns out he’s as dangerous as a wet cat.”

“Thanks for the effort to spare my feelings,” he gave a sarcastic huff.

“Anything for a friend,” Vin wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Did you reach your friends yet?”

The Texan sighed, pulling him a little closer in an unconscious request for comfort. “Not yet, but I ain’t expectin’ anything for a few days.”

It was terrible waiting for news of friends and family after something like Los Angeles.

“It could be a few more days than what you though,” Jack shook his head. “I’m surprised the power hasn’t gone out here, yet.”

There were a few areas of the City that had no power thanks to the stubborn storm that just would not leave. It was a miracle that the Dewdrop still had power at this point.

“Here’s hoping,” Vin gave him a shake before slapping him on the back and releasing him. “Well, I’m off,” he waved. “Have a drink of something hot for me, would ya?”

Jack headed up to the Tenth floor, which had a deli area smaller than the one upstairs and not nearly as good food. Vin showed him which room Alan had last night when the three of them met in the older man’s room to play a round of Go Fish in an attempt to get Vin’s mind off his two friends in California.

Why Vin didn’t want to play Poker or Scrabble was anyone’s guess, but Jack wondered if it wasn’t so much the lack of wanting to play as it was the memories attached to them. Jack and Alan (“Enough with the ‘Dr. Grant’, already, Sheriff Carter. Call me by my name before I take that book and hit you with it.”) even taught Vin how to play Old Maid.

Well, it had been a long time since the youngest out of the three had played it, so they really refreshed his memory about the game.

It was also during the visit that Vin suggested exchanging phone numbers.

_‘And under what circumstances, may I ask, could I possibly have need your number?’ Alan wanted to know._

_‘Well, just in case you ever decide to visit Denver and need someone to show you ‘round.’_

_‘That explains one of us,’ Jack pointed out. ‘Why need mine?’_

_Vin looked at the both of them incredulously. ‘You ain’t ever met someone durin’ a week’s vacation or somethin’ and wanted to keep in touch?’_

_‘Not really, no,’ Alan shook his head. ’Sounds like something Billy would do, though.’_

_‘I haven’t had the occasion to really travel the world,’ Jack shrugged._

Vin ended up declaring them a lost cause, but still managed to get numbers exchanged.

That question brought to mind the three kids that Jack had met the other day. Maybe they wouldn’t mind keeping in touch. Laura probably wouldn’t and Jack wouldn’t mind, himself, but it was her two other friends that he didn’t know about.

“Hey, Doc,” he smiled as he entered the sitting area to see the older man nursing a coffee. “Vin just left.”

“Good morning,” he saluted the blond with his cup. “I guess I’m going to be your entertainment for the afternoon, then.”

“I guess,” Jack shrugged, dropping into the seat across from him.

Alan watched him for a moment as the blond practically inhaled his first cup. “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“It sounds like you’re about to ask me on a date, but no. Did you have something planned?”

“Not my type,” he smiled wryly. “I was thinking about heading over to the Natural History Museum later. It would keep you from tearing the Dewdrop to pieces.”

Jack snorted. “Are you sure it’s me you’re thinking of and not some, let’s say, Texan from Denver?”

He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “My offer still stands.”

It took Jack all of ten minutes.

“I could go for a visit,” he nodded solemnly.

“And we might as well drag Cowboy out with us,” Alan added. “Call him and tell him we’ll go pick him up.”

“Got it. When should I start getting ready?”

“It’ll be awhile, yet,” he considered. “Don’t rush, it’s not even noon.”

“Okay.”

Alan took himself off to keep busy while Jack stayed a little longer before heading off to find his own entertainment for a bit until it was time to go.

** *

Laura brushed her hair out of its sleep tangled mess.

She was going to take a shower in a bit, but she wanted breakfast more. It didn’t much bother her to put the same clothes on twice when it was going in the laundry anyway.

Hopefully they would be getting home tomorrow, as much as Laura didn’t want to leave. The circumstances, however, left much to be desired.

“Oh, well,” she sighed to herself. “At least we get to come back when they decide on a date for the rematch.” It would be in the summer, after graduation, but some kind soul had thought the kids would be short-changed if they were replaced this late in the game.

She went out to have breakfast in the cafeteria with all the other kids and sat next to Sam and across from Brian. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Sam flashed a smile at her before returning to his – “actually surprisingly good” – oatmeal.

“Did you sleep good?” Brian wanted to know, drinking his milk.

“Yeah,” she smiled. She had a good sleep – and a good dream or two (she peeked at Sam with a flush) – even though she’d gotten in late. The storm had been particularly vicious for a few hours and she couldn’t sleep through it. “How about you two?”

Both answered affirmatively and they ate in silence for a while, listening to the rumbling thunder overhead and the conversation thrumming in subtle undertones underneath the storm. Most of the conversation, she noted, was still about Los Angeles.

Looking warily around, she was relieved to find that any of the other girls who needed some kind of support was already in the center of small groups and that she wasn’t going to be singled out for emotional support simply because she was a girl and naturally inclined to be like that.

She really, _really_ wasn’t.

She turned back to see Sam hide a grin and hit him on the arm. Laura wasn’t sure when she felt comfortable in touching him in any manner, but she suddenly was and he didn’t seem to mind at all. She hadn’t minded when he had grabbed her hand on the plane, unintentional though it was.

Maybe her hitting him was, to him, a sign of friendship? She’d certainly seen him hit a few people, excluding Brian, of course.

Anyway, she finished her breakfast and hurried to the showers.

She certainly didn’t dislike the showers, even if four could shower at once. She wasn’t used to showering with other people.

There were four stalls in one… ‘pod’ was the nickname… and there were little cubbyholes built into the individual stalls to hold clothes. It was actually ingenious to have everything in the stall with you, only in a way that wouldn’t get anything wet. There were even clean towel sets to use, which would get dumped into the hamper after every use.

The towels were provided in the actual ‘pod’ itself and could also be stuffed into the cubbyholes. The dirty clothes – or Laura’s at any rate, along with the other visiting girls’ laundry – would usually be dumped in the shared room, into individual baskets with names attached to them. The visitors, like Laura, had come prepared for the dirty clothes to bring back.

After showering, she joined a group of other girls using the hairdryers attached to one big mirror. She noted that it must have been a fairly recent addition to the school since it looked like it was installed at least during the eighties or so.

Returning to her friends, she found Brian embroiled in another game of Scrabble and Sam watching from the sidelines.

“Who’s winning?” she whispered, coming to stand next to him.

“I’m not sure,” he lifted a shoulder. “I kind of just got here, too.”

They watched Brian end up in the top three, before the group broke up for lunch.

A little after lunch, Laura was on her stomach in her borrowed bed, staring at a blank page of her little notebook while her pen hovered over it and wondering what to write down. She never really wanted – or needed – a diary before, but, as that being the logical option, she also felt like she wanted to do something else with it. She couldn’t decide what to do about it, though.

One of the girls came in with a frown. “Something’s going on in the bathroom,” she reported. “All the toilets are plugged and it’s starting to smell.”

Laura and the other girl looked at her as she plopped on her bed. “Thanks for the heads up,” Laura offered.

“No prob,” she waved her away. “The word is spreading already. The teachers are going to try to fix it, so hopefully it won’t last.”

** *


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! Let's hope this story gets lots more chapters - as focused as I am on my crossover series, I can only hope - and that I get some snowy inspiration for some of it!

 

* * *

 

 

Jack winced as thunder cracked sharply overhead.

The rain still fell heavily, even though the lightning and thunder came and went sometimes. The flooding on the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels was awful. Tag’s tank could possibly be the only land roving vehicle to safely get across, but even now, the water was still rising.

No one was getting anywhere out of the City without a boat.

The blond had been lying on his bed for the last hour, mind wandering along a bunch of meaningless trails. He stretched under the bed sheets and pried an eye open at his vibrating cellphone.

“Hello?”

 _“Hey, Carter,”_ the smile on Vin’s face could be heard from down the line. _“Looks like I’m more of a free bird than I thought. Seems that some of the guys in charge of this shindig are stuck in traffic on the other side of the river and the tunnel’s flooded. That in itself ain’t a big deal, but it looks like there’s now a drip in the ceilin’ of some of the upstairs rooms. Plus, the power doesn’t seem like it’ll hold for much longer.”_

“So, you’re done?” he sat up to throw off the sheets while looking at his watch.

_“Yup! And no one is goin’ to be hanging around for long. The traffic seems to be an obstacle all by itself.”_

“Great! Me and Alan are coming to get you, so stay where you are.”

_“Really? Hell, if I’d’ve known you missed me that much, I woulda bought you that little Marshals pooch from the gift shop.”_

“That could be seen as interest in someone,” he teased. “Between you and Doc, I have to wonder if I’m being wooed where I’m not expecting it.”

 _“Did he say ya aren’t his type?”_ he sounded interested. _“He did? Ya know, it’s funny. I cracked the same joke last week and he said the same thing. Kinda makes me wonder if guys hit on him all the time, the easy way he rejects us. Ain’t uncomfortable or anythin’, is he?”_

“How about you?” Jack pulled on his socks and shoes. “Would I be yours or are you straight?”

 _“Ah, well, no to the first_ ,” Jack could imagine his shrug. “ _And no to the second_.”

“Really?” he smiled. “Hey, that’s cool. Me, I don’t know if I would count as being actually gay. I mean, yeah, sure, I had a few crushes and maybe agreed to a date or two, but it’s mostly been my ex-wife and my job. And actually, there may be potential for a real relationship with a guy back home, but…” His insecurities refused to be verbalized just yet.

“ _Mixed signals_?” Vin guessed, tone curious.

“Uh, something like that,” he diverted. “But, hey. Just let me get ready to go and find Doc so we can pick you up.”

“Not even going to give me a clue to what’s goin’ through your head?” Vin all but whined.

“Not a one,” Jack smiled. He hung up and whistled as he made his way upstairs. Knocking on Alan’s door, he called, “Vin’s last meet is a wash-out, so if now’s a good time, let’s go.”

It almost seemed like Alan had been waiting, since he stepped out not two minutes later, already to go.

“Geez, were you waiting long?” Jack studied him.

“I was just about to collect you,” he adjusted his oft-seen wide brimmed hat on his head.

Jack had on his yellow raincoat and his waders, which had been in the bag left in the Jeep after a planned fishing expedition with Henry and Zane ended up canceling because of yet another potentially world ending experiment gone rouge. To be honest, Jack had forgotten it was still in the bag until he came across them in Allison’s hotel room when he went digging for one of his favorite shirts.

They managed to land a cab fairly quickly and they were on their way to Vin’s convention within minutes.

The same could not be said for their arrival.

“Maybe it would’ve been faster walkin’,” Vin chuckled as he slid in the backseat.

“Maybe,” Alan commented from the front, next to the driver.

“I don’t really like being in this weather,” Jack shrugged. “If I’m going to be walking tomorrow, though, I would at least like one trip when I don’t end up soaked to the bone.”

“Wouldn’t look very likely in that,” he smirked at the blond’s outfit.

“I hadn’t realized it was in with the rest of my stuff,” he lifted a shoulder. “I just remembered that I had a bag packed for a fishing trip with some friends and never got around to going.”

“I had that happen before,” he grinned. “Picked up a bag that ain’t been opened in weeks, then find out it had somethin’ I been tearing my hair out over.”

“That sums it up perfectly.”

“So, where is it we’re goin’ tomorrow?” Vin wanted to know. He plucked at his own raincoat. “This is doin’ a decent job. Will it be far?”

“No, I looked it up earlier.”

They would walk to the meeting place inside an office building since the traffic situation would only be worse tomorrow if the rain kept going.

“At this rate, we’ll be seein’ ducks swimming down the street,” Vin huffed a laugh.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Alan drawled from the front.

The cab eventually got them to the Museum and Vin whistled lowly as they piled inside.

“When did you boys decide to come here?” he wondered, looking at all the things on display within sight.

“Earlier today,” Jack told him. “It was after you left, though.”

It was unanimously decided to head to the fourth floor to the dinosaur exhibits, but Vin wanted to look into the early people areas so they eventually decided to start at the bottom and work their way up.

Jack in particular was fascinated by the water creatures on display and was examining a particularly intriguing skeleton when the three heard a group up ahead.

“- I don’t know, I think I’d like to go upstairs and look at the dinosaurs,” a quasi-familiar voice argued.

“We don’t have to leave right now,” a completely unfamiliar voice assured. “We’re really only down here because I wanted to look at this area. I know I come here at least once a year, but I always come back to it.”

“At least we didn’t get very far,” a _very_ familiar voice added. “I think I’d like to look at the Native People exhibits while we’re up there.”

Jack grinned and casually made his way toward the group, Vin and Alan exchanging glances as they trailed after him. “Well, well, well,” the blond rubbed his hands together as he rounded a corner to come face to face with three familiar figures. “If it’s not the Scholastic Champions from the airport!”

Laura whirled around from where she was facing the boys and a wide grin spread across her face before she charged. “Carter!”

The blond caught her with an ‘oomph’ as Brian and Sam said their own hellos.

“There’s an extra, I see,” he released her and turned to the third boy. “Jack Carter.”

“JD,” he shook his hand. “And it looks like I’m not the only extra,” he noted the others greeting only one of the three.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “Laura, Sam and Brian, meet Vin and Doc.”

“Nice to meet you folks,” Vin waved. “You visitin’, too?”

Brian explained that they were there for a competition, before turning to Jack. “The constant raining backed up the sewage and the school was evacuated. JD let us stay with him when we were being placed with other kids living here.”

“Well, that was nice of you,” Vin commented. “Showin’ the DC kids that New Yorkers ain’t stuck up, huh?”

“Something like that,” the New York native shrugged. Jack didn’t miss the look he gave Laura, nor the look Laura gave Sam.

Jack was staying out of it, but he did note Sam giving Laura a similar look to the one she gave him.

“Wait,” Laura took a closer look at Alan, who knew what was coming. “Doc? Dr. Alan Grant?”

“He’s givin’ out autographs,” Vin teasingly nudged the older man, who rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry about him,” he assured Laura. “Cain’t say no to a pretty smile.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Alan advised. “He’s known for making all kinds of trouble.” Then, spying a small notebook in her hands, relented, “But I’ll sign your book for you.”

Vin laughed as she didn’t need to be told twice, meekly handing it over. “A sucker for the ladies,” he cuffed him on the arm as he finished with a flourish.

Alan grimaced at him as he returned the book to Laura, who quickly returned it to someplace inside her jacket.

“Were you just leaving?” Jack turned to Sam.

“Nah. We were trying to decide if we wanted to explore everything or just leave half done.”

“We were planning on dragging Doc upstairs,” Vin explained. “Want to come with?”

“That’s where the dinosaur skeletons are,” Brian said slowly, the idea taking root.

“I’m game,” Sam shrugged. “Besides,” he added with a smile. “When else are we going to get a personal tour with the famous Dr. Grant?”

“Infamous, you mean,” Alan shrugged.

“Well, that’s decided,” JD nodded. “We’ll stay maybe another hour?”

The group of seven abandoned the rest of the downstairs for the elevators. Vin headed for the stairs and told them he’d see them up there.

“I think I’ll go, too,” Sam went after him.

“Vin’s claustrophobic?” Laura guessed correctly.

“I met him after he tried climbing the stairs at our hotel up to the thirteenth floor,” Jack told her.

“He keeps trying,” Alan smirked. “Remind me to tell you how I ran into him.”

They met the pair on the fourth floor, both looking ready to flop on the floor.

“You raced up, didn’t you?” Brian grinned at Sam’s scowl. “Who won?”

“Tie,” Vin wheezed. “Racin’ the elevator, too.”

It was really cool, Jack decided as he looked around at what he could see as they waited for Vin and Sam to get their hearts back to a normal pace.

Alan snorted when JD pointed out one of his favorites. Goaded into providing a commentary, Alan explained that the scientist in charge of that particular dig had been drunk at the time.

“Sounds like you know a lot, Doc,” Vin mused, gulping down a few mouthfuls at the water fountain. “Care to walk us through it?”

“I wouldn’t want to shatter your delusional view of anything,” he deadpanned.

“Shatter away,” the Texan gestured with an arm. “What can you tell me about… that one?” he pointed at a random skeleton.

The group spent an enjoyable hour being led around by Alan, whose sarcastic comments had them almost hysterical with laughter. The way he provided trivial facts and expounded on the provided information with a glee only seen at Global Dynamics made Jack watch in wonder at the obvious love the older man had for his field.

Vin teased Brian, who was caught scribbling some notes, and coaxed Sam into a game of keep away until the nerd promised to remember that it wasn’t a class lecture and to “live a little.”

Jack wasn’t sure it was all that successful, but Brian laughed along with them, giving no indication of hard feelings.

They didn’t hang around the entire floor, though. The kids had to get going some time and  the traffic wasn’t too good on a _sunny_ day. The decision to head downstairs was only expounded when one of the museum staff members caught sight of Alan.

“Grant!” the call came from across the room.

Vin, who had been listening intently at an anecdote Alan was imparting to Brian, blinked as the Doc stiffened. “Uh oh,” he sidled over to Jack. “He’s got that look on his face that Ez gets on his right before he tears inta someone usin’ ten dollar words.”

Jack soon saw what look he spoke of when Alan turned to confront the other man hurrying toward them. The blond and the Texan shared a look before sidling over to Alan just in case one needed to be restrained from punching the other’s lights out.

Fifteen minutes later, Sam assisted them in dragging Alan to the stairs, Laura doing her best to soothe ruffled feathers on both sides.

“Well, _that_ was interesting,” Brian huffed a relieved sigh as Vin decided to take the lead through the Native Peoples areas. “Thought for sure someone was going to end up in the hospital.”

Jack agreed. It was not a good idea to have an escalating argument in an area chock full of potential weapons.

JD smiled slightly. “It wasn’t any worse than the arguments some of my Philosophy teachers would get into. Someone even threw a pencil case during one, last semester.”

Eventually, however, the kids had to go.

“Have a safe trip home,” Laura smiled as she gave a watery sniff into Jack’s shoulder.

“You guys, too,” Vin shook Brian’s hand.

“And when everything settles down,” Jack squeezed Laura back, “you can give me a call to remind me of almost dying on the way home.”

“You’ll be fine, Carter,” Laura repeated the last words at the end of their last meeting with a laugh. “I’ll look forward to calling you when you get back home.”

“Dr. Grant,” Brian turned to him, clutching his own autograph. “It was an honor, sir.”

“My pleasure,” he smiled warmly. “The only good thing about this place is a lack of living dinosaurs, so at least we aren’t being chased up trees this go around.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Vin joked, looking exaggeratedly around for dinos looking for a snack.

“They’ll have be swimmers,” Alan looked like he was actually considering the danger.

“Thanks a lot,” Jack huffed. “Now I’m going to have to be on the lookout for swimming prehistoric animals lurking in the storm drains.”

“You too?” Sam snickered.

They all said their farewells and Laura and Jack promised to keep in touch – slightly because Vin may or may not have been kidding when he intoned a family (on his mother’s side) adage about pebbles and rivers and something about entwined paths that flew over Jack’s head –, all saying goodbye and waving as the kids left in the elevator.

Even Alan looked to be wiping an eye as the doors closed. “Seem like a good group,” he gruffly commented.

“They are,” Jack was only sorry they didn’t finish their competition before everything went downhill.

Vin sighed happily before deciding that they had to finish what they could of the rest of the museum before they closed or got flooded out. “Softie, is what ya are,” Vin poked Alan’s shoulder, herding them to the stairs.

“They are intelligent young adults,” Alan told him. “I’m just disappointed that none of them are truly interested enough to be paleontologists out in the field.”

“Yeah right,” Vin confided to Jack as Alan went ahead of them. “He wrote down his number in Laura’s book alongside yours and wished her well in the future. He probably scribbled down her number after gettin’ a look at it from your scrap of paper so he could keep in touch himself. He’s a softie.”

They wandered down a hall, checking out the exhibits, and Jack had to marvel at dampened sound of thunder as it tried its best to penetrate the mostly quiet space.

“It’s quieter in than out,” Alan voiced Jack’s thoughts. “Have to wonder if this is what it sounds like when you’re being buried alive.”

“What would make you say something like that?” Jack wanted to know.

“One of my teammates said that the dirt hittin’ the coffin sounded a lot like muffled thunder,” Vin responded before Alan could. “Nate would have nightmares sometimes. Said it makes him feel better at the ranch.”

The idea of being buried alive didn’t sit well with the blond. Many of the witnesses that he failed to save had looked like they were sleeping before the lid closed on them. Just imagine if someone mistook him for dead after seeing him asleep.

And if talking about being buried alive wasn’t bad enough, Jack’s eye was caught by a plaque in front of what looked like a hairy elephant half buried in the fake snow:

_The body of this mammoth was found perfectly preserved in the Siberian Tundra with food still in its mouth and stomach, indicating that it froze instantly while grazing._

The shiver running down his spine felt like it had another level to it, than all this talk about being buried alive or frozen without so much as a by-your-leave.

It was certainly a creepy feeling, that was for sure.

* ** *


	15. Chapter 15

 

* * *

 

 

Vin winced as he looked out at the storm.

The rain had been falling for more or less three days now and, if anything, it looked to be gearing up to rain like this even more. It was not something he was looking forward to going out in, but he was a Tanner who had given his word and that was something that he didn’t take lightly.

“Last chance to back out,” Alan murmured as he stood next to the younger man at the window.

“Marshals stick together,” he insisted. “Specially former ones, and it wouldn’t be right if I stayed here and he went by himself only to end up getting knifed.” It was not something he liked thinking about if he could have prevented it in the first place.

“Well, don’t be counting on me to do you any good,” he sipped his coffee. “I only know how to deal with dinosaurs.”

“Didn’t look that way last night,” he pointed out with a grin.

“He should be ashamed to call himself a paleontologist,” the older man scoffed. “Especially with what I saw last night.”

“See, that’s your problem, Doc,” he huffed. “Why do you have to be so pessimistic?”

“I warned you last night about shattered delusions and I’m not sorry.”

“I’m going to tell the Kid you’re a mean person.”

“You mean to tell me that you don’t like what I’m saying, so you’re going to act like a child who’s toy got taken away by another child that won’t share?”

“… Well, when you put it like that… Yes,” he put his nose in the air.

Alan snorted and shook his head.

“Hey,” Carter suddenly appeared next to them, his own half-empty cup of coffee in hand. “We’ll be leaving soon in order to get there in enough time.”

“Yeah,” Vin nodded. Traffic was gridlocked and flooding wasn’t helping anyone. Power started going down a few hours ago, so there was no telling when the Dewdrop would be dropped into darkness. The manager was trying to dig out the portable generators that the last manager swore was somewhere on the upper floors, but the current manager was starting to really wonder. He wasn’t kicking anyone out of the hotel until they had a way to get home, since the planes were still grounded and train platforms were slowly, but surely, being flooded.

“Take your time out there,” Alan solemnly shook their hands. “Try not to drown on the way back.”

“You’re all heart,” Jack deadpanned.

“Yeah,” Vin didn’t bother hiding a smile. “You can stay here and work out the nice things you’re gonna say at our double funeral.”

“I’ll work extra hard,” Alan assured before the pair finished their after breakfast coffee and headed out. The streets were flooded up to where the water just barely came up to the tire hubcaps on the standstill traffic in front of them.

“Well,” Carter leaned close to his ear. “Here goes nothing.”

“I’ll be right behind ya, Pard,” he returned.

They carefully made their way down to the street and Vin was just glad that he thought to take the rain boots because the water was about ankle deep. No wet socks for part of the journey, at any rate.

It would probably be about an hour’s walk or two, now that they weren’t bothering with traffic or anything, which Vin doubted would be anything resembling helpful in these conditions.

Vin heaved a sigh and tried his best to keep the rain out of his face.

** ** ** **

Laura sighed as she gathered her things in preparation to leave JD’s apartment.

She just wanted to be home already. New York City was great to visit, but she was kind of sick of the constant rain. It wasn’t a total washout, though.

Last night’s trip to the museum was a welcome surprise when Carter, Vin and _Dr. Grant_ had come around the corner. Their personal dinosaur tour ranked top spot in her favorites list of tours and she even had Dr. Grant’s phone number! He said to call if she ever decided to try a summer digging out in Montana. She was seriously beginning to think that it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing and one thing that her parents wanted was for her to have a well-rounded education. They could probably figure something out.

As it was, they really needed to get going, but she wasn’t quite sure they would be getting out fast enough to suit her. Traffic was at a gridlock, power was out almost from one corner of Manhattan to the other, trains and planes were out of service, and she wished it would have waited to rain forever until she got back home. This was past ridiculous.

Brian and Sam were already packed and all their stuff was already in hand, all three of the boys waiting for her. She hoped Vin, Carter and Dr. Grant would get out of the City safely, even though they would be a few more days.

Taking one last look around, she glanced around at the room before smiling slightly and closing the door.

She just hoped she and the boys got out safely, too.

** *** *


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try to post chapters on a regular basis, but it's school, so no promises. I'm also going to be doing an internship - hopefully by next week -, so that may cut into some writing time. 
> 
> I am going to at least post on the thirteenth of the next few months so at least something good comes out of it, but start expecting maybe every other week or so.
> 
> Thanks for all the attention and wonderful responses to this story!

 

* * *

 

 

Nathan Stark was never more glad for protocols than he was in that moment.

Everything was more or less already in place, so all he really needed to do was keep an eye on things and sign where he needed to.

He was in the infirmary with Lupo right now, the Deputy making sure everything was going smoothly. A bit of contention had made itself known about the Deputy not having whatever clearance was necessary and Allison wasn’t there, so Nathan had to stand in her place.

“How is everything going?” Henry walked in.

“Nothing’s blown up, yet,” Jo told him.

“Which is always good,” he nodded approvingly.

Nathan gave him a small smile as he joined the younger man. “Henry.”

“Nathan,” he smiled back, patting his arm. “I see everything’s going according to schedule.”

“Mm. The evacuation is already beginning,” he told him. “By this time tonight, everyone will be in their assigned places.”

“Very good.”

“So, have you heard from Allison?”

Nathan gave a sharp nod. “She’s already heading south. Everything is in place for her to begin assisting the establishment of refugee camps.” He debated telling Henry what he’d also learned from her, but decided that there wasn’t anything to be done about the younger Carter until they managed to get a hold of her somehow. He had already managed to send out a message for her to get in touch with him, so all he could really do now was wait.

Henry shoved his hands into his pockets. “Looks like everything’s going well.”

“I just imagined Carter being here to poke his nose into things.”

He wasn’t fooling Henry, though. “Remind me again why you two aren’t… together,” he stepped closer to keep eavesdroppers guessing.

It had been something that Nathan had wondered himself. As mentioned, he was more than ready to try. “It’s something I’ll have to remember to ask him.”

Henry studied him until Jo called his attention. “Yes?”

A young intern stood next to her, holding a box. “This just came for you, sir.”

“Thank you,” he took it and Nathan watched the young man depart as Henry studied it curiously. “It’s not ticking,” he smiled weakly, holding it up to his ear. The older man carefully opened it and it was his groan that made Nathan give him his undivided attention.

“What? What is it?” he demanded. ‘What else could go wrong? Scratch that. It’s Eureka.’

“No, no, no, no, _no_ ,” he stared at the inside with dread. “How could this happen? I could _swear_ … Nathan,” he shook his head, not looking up. “I need to make some calls.” He left, without giving any indication of what he had.

** *

Jack checked the time again.

They had gotten there fifteen minutes before the time they were supposed to meet with Henry’s guy. Said contact was now twenty minutes late.

“Sure this is the right address?” Vin asked again, looking around at the office space.

It was an empty room with things on the walls and a plant in the corner. That was it. And it had been easy getting in because people were probably stuck outside the City or in traffic. Two former Marshals like themselves had no problems with sneaking unnoticed.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m going to try getting a hold of Henry,” he sighed, taking his phone out. Now that the power was out, reception was spotty at best. But he was lucky.

In fact, the phone rang before he could dial.

“Henry? Where is this guy? He’s late.”

“ _Jack, I am **so** sorry. I have absolutely no excuse for not looking into this.”_

“Huh?” the blond started slightly. “What are you talking about?”

_“I can’t believe I didn’t get in contact with him. This will never happen again, Jack. I promise you.”_

“That’s great. What will never happen?”

_“I cannot tell you how horrible I feel, sending you to New York for nothing.”_

“What do you mean? He’s not coming?” he glanced at Vin with wide eyes.

_“No. I got my part just a few hours ago in the mail! I called him to say that I had it, but he had kept sending me e-mails telling me where to send you! Apparently, he didn’t realize until I called that he was having computer glitches. He originally wanted to see you, but then a lot of things came up and he decided last week that it was going to be sent to me through the mail. But the computer must have mistaken his cancellation for a confirmation of a series of pre-programmed actions. I was never supposed to send you. Jack, I didn’t think anything of it and I am just so, so sorry.”_

“No, no, Henry, it’s fine,” he smiled slightly, kind of relieved. Vin was close, listening to both sides as Jack tilted the phone at him, and he shook his head.

“How about that?” he chuckled.

_“Is someone there with you?”_

“Oh, yeah. We weren’t sure if it was going to be dangerous, so Vin decided to come with me. It turns out that he’s ATF and a former Marshal himself. We’re on the same floor.”

_“Well, now I feel even worse, dragging you both out when you shouldn’t have even been there in the first place.”_

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Vin spoke into the phone. “Computers make all kinds of mistakes and it ain’t your fault.”

“Yeah, Henry,” Jack agreed. “I mean, you couldn’t have known, right?”

 _“But I should have checked,”_ he insisted. “ _What the hell kind of friend makes another go out, when he knew that friend was scared of flying, to a city that he didn’t need to be in?!”_

“Tell ya what, Henry,” Vin grinned. “You can buy Carter a beer or ten. That should settle it.”

“ _Five cases_ ,” Henry agreed. _“And I’ll make Vince stop pestering you about always ordering cheeseburgers from the café.”_

Knowing the other man would probably commission three statues in his honor or something to assuage his guilt – and not wanting any of it, which could probably happen should he voice it -, Jack agreed. “As soon as I get back, okay?”

They spoke a little longer before Henry started breaking up a bit and they decided to go back to the Dewdrop.

“I do feel bad about making you come out with me,” Jack sighed as they climbed down the stairs down to the entrance.

“Aw, ain’t the first time it’s happened,” he jostled his arm. “Probably won’t be the last.”

Once they actually got to the entrance, however, they froze at the sight of the street.

The water had risen significantly in just a short time and was just barely brushing the bottom of the undercarriages of the cars.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go,” he and Vin exchanged wide-eyed looks.

“Sounds good to me,” he sighed. They headed out, joining the rest of the water logged citizens making their way to and fro.

*** **

Alan yawned, feeling the rainy weather affecting him and making him sleepy. It had been quite a while since the stormy weather would have affected him, but the last time it really sent him to sleep had been while Billy had still been working on physical therapy.

He had intended to stay awake after changing the sheets in his spare room, but he had decided to test the mattress for the thousandth time to make sure it was comfortable enough. He must have drifted off and missed the younger man’s coming home, because he woke up sometime later to the other splayed on his back next to him.

Billy didn’t mention it, but Alan couldn’t stop remembering waking up to him curled as close as his injuries would allow. Maybe Billy himself needed some physical touch after the afternoon’s pain, so Alan didn’t want to mention it in case Billy didn’t want him to.

Alan sipped his coffee and glanced at his watch.

Jack and Vin had been gone for quite a while. Well, it wasn’t that odd. They did say something about having to walk quite a bit.

He wondered how long it would take them before they got back. He had grown oddly fond of Cowboy and Jack reminded him of one of the professors at the University that had retired last year. He had been one of the only men Alan had been able to stand on a regular basis there. Not that a lot of others weren’t at least tolerable, but he was someone Alan could discuss and argue with and not be tainted by hard feelings.

Alan was glad Vin had made them exchange numbers. He was certainly going to keep tabs on them in the future. Maybe the next time Alan had to be somewhere, he could take those two with him. It would be interesting to see Vin’s next victim and relaxing to sit down with Jack for a coffee.

Then he frowned. He would need to get in touch with their supervisors. Or they could do it on their own time. From what he understood, they both have high stress jobs. It would help if they had a relaxation plan in place for emergencies.

Deciding to think more about the plan in detail later, he put his cup on the table and lay down on the bed. He drifted off into a light sleep moments later.

*** *


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday the Thirteenth! 
> 
> Here's a new chapter for you on this 'bad luck' of all days! 
> 
> But if you don't believe the bologna, enjoy it anyway!

 

* * *

 

 

Laura waded – waded! – her way after the boys as they headed to the library. This entire scenario was unreal.

‘Maybe I should have thought to take my swimsuit,’ she thought almost hysterically. The freezing water was everywhere. Anything that could float did and she couldn’t help wondering what was in the water.

Finally, she could make out the library at the end of the street and sighed as she kept after the boys. They easily hopped over cars stuck bumper to bumper, but she wasn’t the athletic type and never claimed to be. She could slide in between cars, because, well. What was the rush?

She was just following the boys between two taxis in front of the library when she must have slipped or something because the next thing she remembered was a sharp pain coming from her left leg.

“Ow,” she hissed, rubbing it soothingly. That was when she heard yelling coming from behind her in both English and French.

She was fluent enough in French to act as translator and waded over to calm the situation.

“Excuse me,” she told the police officer. “I can help. I speak French.” She then turned to the lady in the back of the cab. “ _Hello. My name is Laura. May I be of assistance?”_

 _“Yes! Oh, thank goodness!”_ she replied, melting in relief. _“The door is stuck and we are going to drown!”_

“ _The door is stuck_ ,” Laura shook her head. “Um, sir? What exactly are you going to do to get them out?” She continued to act as a translator all throughout the extraction process and, all told, she was feeling so very proud of herself for having actually helped someone rescue another.

Not even the flooding and never-ending rain could dampen her sunny mood.

** **

It was difficult to see in front of his face, thanks to the driving rain.

Jack was certain he was in a dreamlike aftermath of some kind of experiment gone horribly wrong. There was no way that he could actually be moving through water coming to at least his waist on his way down the street.

“If this isn’t the damndest thing I’ve had to go through, yet,” Vin chuckled next to him. The Texan seemed to be taking this whole thing in stride. It seemed more like a walk in Central Park than a swim to their hotel.

“You don’t let anything get you down much, do you?” he bumped Vin’s shoulder with his.

“What, this? Ain’t nothin’. Least I’m not swimming in mud like that one time in Oregon.”

“Oh, you’ve been to Oregon? When?” he was interested to know.

“Some years ago, up near the Washington state line. But that was for a case if nothin’ else. And it wasn’t for long.”

They waded a few more minutes before Jack frowned, starting to hear a faint noise under all the rain.

Vin, show-off that he was, turned around and started walking backwards. “How ‘bout you? You seem to be someone who reminds me a’ one of my teammates. Fusses like nothin’ else, but he’ll come with you to watch your back.”

“Well, I don’t know,” he grinned. “Some of my friends back home would compare me to you.”

“You superglue keyboards, too, huh?”

“No, I can’t afford to play jokes like that, being Sheriff and all.” Though, heaven knew there were quite a few keyboards he would love to mess with. He might even get Zane and Fargo involved. “But, I suppose I could oversee some harmless hijinks.” This would probably be for the best, considering what could be lying around in a harmless toothpaste tube.

“Yeah, hey, Carter? You know, it’s interestin’ to see people’s reactions to some things.”

“Sure, like you taking this whole swimming to the hotel thing in stride and me thinking I’m dreaming. You act like you do this every day.”

“Eh, what can I say? I’m a ‘taking in stride’ kind of guy.”

They were silent for a few minutes.

“Hey, Carter? Remember you saying something ‘bout takin’ things in stride?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Here’s somethin’ for you. What would your reaction be if I told you there was a wall of water headin’ toward us?”

“What, you mean hypothetically?” Jack mused, that odd rushing sound appearing to get closer.

“Sure, if ya like.”

He chuckled. “I dunno. Why?”

“Well, ya see, Pard,” Vin’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “There ain’t no easy way a’ sayin’ this…”

** **

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pi day!
> 
> Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I just couldn't resist. I mean, how often am I going to find the perfect spot to drop it? XD
> 
> The next few chapters are going to be reactions from others. Enjoy.

Alan blinked.

Something woke him up just now.

He frowned.

It had felt like the building shuddered. A small, small tremble, but there nonetheless.

He hadn’t been sleeping deeply, mostly out of habit for when he needed to keep an ear out for sounds of distress coming from Billy.

Sighing, he got up with a groan to see if he could find out what happened. Maybe it had been an earthquake. He’d been through quite a number of those in his time, though never one on the East Coast.

Alan peered out of his room and into the hall to see a few other people clustered together.

“It was just terrible,” one woman shook her head. “I couldn’t do anything but sit there and watch. And a lot of people running, I just don’t know if they all made it to safety.”

That didn’t bode well. It made something run down his spine and he didn’t care for it at all.

He hurried to the floor’s dining hall where a lot of others were clustered around the windows, some shaking their heads and others trying to call on their phones. He found a spot to look out, before he let his gaze track down… and was sorry he did when he realized just what he was seeing.

The streets… were now just pathways for water to flow. All the cars – and people – were underwater. It was both surreal and eerie to see water halfway to the fourth floor when there shouldn’t have been.

No one could have gotten away from the apparent wall of water that had crashed over the city.

An image of Vin and Carter flashed in his mind and his heart dropped.

They had still been out.

Were they on their way back when the water hit?

Were they stuck at their location and he would probably never see them again?

That…

That pierced him in an unexpected way.

Those two were close enough to be called his friends in such a short amount of time as they had. The idea of them not making it… not hearing Vin’s drawl doused in amusement… or seeing Jack’s smile… it didn’t sit well with him.

He was vaguely aware that he was shaking slightly. Of course, there was always the chance that they were on their floor and hadn’t come to see him for one reason or another.

With that in mind, he hurried out of the dining area and all but flew down the hall toward the stairs when he registered a familiar rain slicker looming over a figure leaning back against the wall while they were on the floor.

“Oh, so there was no easy way of saying, ‘Carter, old friend of mine, please turn around and tell me if that really is  _a wall of water bearing down on us_ ’? No easy way of saying, ‘Carter, start running because we’re two seconds from drowning’? But no! ‘Well, ya see, Pard,’ you decide to tell me, ‘There ain’t no easy way a’ sayin’ this, but it  _ain’t_  hypothetical.’ That’s how you chose to phrase it?!”

The figure on the floor, who Alan now recognized was Vin, just snickered. “Well, I just couldn’t resist. Ya looked so cute.”

“Me panicking was  _cute_?!”

Alan let out a relieved chuckle before deciding to speak up. “If you two plan on flirting, move out of the hall so people can pass.”

“Hey, Doc,” Vin looked up and waved. “How’s it goin’?”

“Glad you made it before the wave hit, if that’s what it was. I was asleep at the time.”

“Oh, you missed the excitement.”

“ _I_  would have loved to miss the excitement,” Jack scowled. “I saw my life flash before my eyes!”

“Makes you feel alive, don’t it?” he chuckled, letting his head fall forward.

“I’m going to find coffee and I won’t bring you any,” Jack huffed, turning on his heel and stalking off in a twirl of yellow rain coat and a shower of droplets.

Alan watched him go, before turning to the now silent Texan. “Vin?” he prodded.

He sighed and let his head fall back against the wall, looking at him with serious blue eyes. “Doc,” he shook his head slightly. “I ain’t in the habit of lyin’ to myself, but its times like these that make me wonder if it ain’t such a bad time to start.”

“It might not be at that, my friend,” Alan smiled humorlessly. “It might not be at that.”

* ** *


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The start of Part II.
> 
> Here's another chapter because I feel guilty about the Cliffhanger from Hell and leaving you all to wonder about it. DX

Laura was in shock.

She knew she was in shock.

She had read something about shock some time ago and she was seeing it all around her.

People were pale and others were shaking on top of that. A lot of adults were staring at nothing and kids were crying and others not sure what had happened.

Even Sam, JD and Brian looked like they couldn’t focus on any one point.

Laura was pretty sure she was a mix of all of the above, but she couldn’t really think.

Her thoughts were stuck on looking down the street to see a wall of water rushing toward her. She vaguely remembered the race to the library and wondered if Carter and the other two got out of New York. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling just yet, but she knew that she shouldn’t be calmly sitting on the floor thinking about other things beside the fact that they were trapped.

“Are you okay?” Brian crouched down in front of her.

She looked into his concerned face and shrugged. “I’m still here, right?”

JD knelt next to them in front of Sam, who had his head in a hand leaning on his bent knee. “How about you?” he asked.

“Is it tomorrow, yet?” he smiled weakly.

“I’m not sure if that was brave or stupid,” JD shook his head.

“Well,” Brian shrugged. “I didn’t have to watch two of my best friends drown in front of me. And, I’m not alone in a strange city with only someone I technically just met.”

“Ridiculous, then,” JD grinned.

Laura turned her gaze to the others around them. “We’re still in shock. I think.”

“That sounds right,” Brian agreed, dropping his backpack to the floor. “At least your notebook is fairly dry,” he unzipped his jacket to dig around in his breast pocket. She had given it to him because he had an inside pocket that had been proven to keep things dry.

“That’s okay,” she shook her head. “Why don’t you keep it right now?”

Brian unzipped his pack and hauled out a flashlight to check that it still worked. “Looks like it needs some time to dry out,” he announced.

“I have never been so glad that your mom made you bring your backpack,” Sam huffed a laugh. “Never knew I might need it when a flood invaded the City.”

“Did she really stuff a flashlight in there?” Laura wanted to know.

“No, I left it there the last time I went out with my dad,” he shook his head. “We like heading out around the woods by my house,” he explained to JD. “We usually lose track of time and need to pack supplies.”

One of the cops came by and asked if they needed anything.

“No,” JD shook his head. “We were just about to start moving somewhere else.”

“The reading room,” one of the others said. “That’s big enough to hold everyone.”

“Onward, then,” Sam levered himself up as Brian helped Laura.

“Here,” he gave her the flashlight. “Why don’t you hang on to it for a while? Keep trying to turn it on to check every half hour or so. I have batteries for it, so don’t worry about wasting it yet.”

“Okay,” she nodded, gripping it and that woman’s bag to her. Brian put an arm around her shoulder and let her lean on him as the four of them joined a few others going to the reading room.

Laura was surprised at how many managed to outrun the wave. Although, she amended as Brian pushed her into a chair, that didn’t mean that a number was probably already in the library before it hit and maybe had little idea as to what happened.

Some people were asking what was going on and others shook their heads as they climbed up to the window to see out at the flooded streets.

“Why don’t we all dry out a little?” JD prompted, taking his jacket off. The others slowly did the same and Laura was barely aware of time passing as she sat there.

Eventually, however, she had to return that woman’s bag and passports.

She looked up to see Sam hovering nearby and smiled fondly. “Thanks for coming back for me,” she told him. “It was really brave.” ‘My brave Gryffindor.’

Sam seemed kind of embarrassed at that, so Laura decided to take herself off to return the bag.

She exchanged a few words with the lady and her daughter before returning to the boys.

“I kind of hope the guys weren’t out in that,” Brian mused.

“I do, too,” Laura nodded. God, was it only last night that they were at the museum, laughing at Dr. Grant’s sarcastic commentary? She would have given anything to turn back time.

Back to last night.

Back to the plane.

Back to before she even heard of the trip.

She leaned back in her chair and shook her head. She just wanted to go home, but that wasn’t possible now. What were they going to do? What _could_ they do?

Well, she smiled slightly at her friends. Brian was right, at least.

She wasn’t alone and that was worth a lot in the long run.

* **  


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everybody.
> 
> Thanks for staying during the radio silence and there should be a smoother flow as more chapters come out.
> 
> I'm going to start warning you before I forget that there will be some twisting around of movie events. Not major ones, but I did tell you when we started that I was already planning on stretching movie time.
> 
> Hopefully, no one will be too upset. 
> 
> It is not going to change the movie, things will still happen, but maybe not in the sequence you remember. The first change will be coming up soon.

* * *

 

Vin shook his head as he sipped his coffee.

The manager, Carlos Riviera, had installed portable camping stoves on each floor in the event of a power outage and they really came in handy. Especially since the generators were still MIA.

“I don’t understand,” Riviera shook his head. “The man swore to me they were somewhere on the upper floors. I can’t find them!”

“Maybe we can help,” Carter looked at Vin, who nodded. Alan was staring down at the flooded streets.

It had been an hour and a half since the wave and reception was close to non-existent. Even if Chris and the others wanted to call him, they couldn’t right now.

Carter and Doc were still trying to, as well.

“Ain’t got nothin’ better to do,” Vin shrugged. “Might as well make ourselves useful.”

Unfortunately, they found out that a lot of the guests had been out, trying to find things to do in the City. There was no reason to think that some hadn’t managed to get to safety, but Vin wasn’t holding out hope. Thankfully, though, young Strawberry and her mother were in, the mother worried that the weather could cause her charge to become ill.

The young girl was sitting with some other children, drinking hot chocolate from the stash on every floor. There were a few packets in each room and many more stocked in the closet at the end of each hall.

“So, where to?” Vin turned his full attention to the manager.

“Up to the fourteenth floor, to start with,” he sighed. “Which means we go up.”

“So, up we shall go,” Carter – having lost the rubber ducky look – smiled widely. Vin could understand wanting to actually do something instead of thinking about what had happened. If anything, the blond still looked like he was in shock. It would be a couple more hours or so for their situation to finally sink in. He wondered if the other man would have a meltdown then.

“Let’s go, then,” Doc led the three of them toward the stairs.

“By the way,” Vin tapped the manager’s shoulder. “Can we call you Carlos or something? Or would you prefer ‘Manager’?”

“No,” he smiled tightly. “‘Carlos’ is fine. And you boys?”

“Doc, Carter and Vin. I also answer to Tanner.”

“He also answers to ‘Pain in the Ass’,” Doc smirked.

“I expected that from Chris,” Vin huffed at him.

The four slowly made their way up to the thirteenth floor where they found more people and a few panicking employees who calmed when they caught sight of Carlos.

“There are more of us scattered in the building,” one told him. “None downstairs, though some might have been in the – the lobby.”

“Well, spread the word that I want all the employees up here,” he rubbed her arms soothingly. “We’ll do a headcount of the employees first, before we round up the guests. Meanwhile, has anyone found any of the generators?”

After receiving negative answers, the manager told them to tell the others to be on the lookout for them before the four resumed their journey.

“At this point,” Carlos shook his head. “Those damn things could be anywhere.”

“Where on the fourteenth floor should we be looking?” Carter wanted to know.

“I’ll show you. If not there, then we’ll have to try the fifteenth floor. And if that one’s a bust, too, then I’m declaring open season.”

“Think it’s possible that the last guy took them with him?” Vin had to ask.

“He would’ve taken the gas and stuff, too. They’re usually just used in the kitchen areas, anyway, with the added option of powering two floors if we need to. I know we have space heaters, so that won’t be much of a problem. Those have this new technology that can charge on body heat. Really quite remarkable.”

The generators were supposed to be locked up in one location. Ideally, they were every second or third floor, but Carlos had looked everywhere for them.

If not split up into all said floors’ supply closets, then they were all in the bigger supply closets on the fourteenth or fifteenth floor. They reached the fourteenth floor and encountered a few guests who wanted to know what was going on.

None of the four knew what to tell them, but one suggested that they go down to look for themselves. “These gentlemen obviously have a job to do, so we should do our own information-gathering.”

“Thanks, Tim,” Carlos heaved a sigh of relief as the rest of that group agreed to get at least coffee if nothing else. “I honestly don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Hey, what are best friends for?” he winked. Vin felt a slight pang as he realized the redhead had a Southern accent, though not nearly as detectable as Ezra’s.

“You two know each other?” Carter looked from one to the other.

“Yeah,” Carlos nodded. “We met in college and he came down from Vermont to see the hotel…”

“He means I’m here to dig him out of tight spots,” Tim smiled widely.

“I would count this as a tight spot,” Doc sighed.

Carlos drew Tim aside as Carter led the other group to the stairs. The redhead nodded and pulled away.

“Let me know if you find them.”

Vin watched as he went after the other group and caught sight of the look on Carlos’ face. “So… Just best friends, huh?”

“Yeah,” he smiled slightly before Vin’s tone registered and he looked at him with wide eyes. “No! No, that’s not what I meant!”

“So, you’re _not_ best friends?” Carter caught on with a straight face.

Doc smirked at the three of them. “Let’s go find these generators, then you can tease him about his crush.”

“I do _not_ have a crush on anyone, let alone Tim!”

“A word of advice, Mr. Riviera. Don’t blush when you say that.”

** *


	21. Chapter 21

“Okay, let’s all just calm down,” Henry had a hand on his back, rubbing gently. “Reception has to be out all over the city.”

“That _was_ impressive, though,” Donovan mused a little further away. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jameson run so fast.”

It hadn’t been one of Nathan’s finest moments.

He’d been so busy that he heard about the half-submerged New York City just a half hour ago. He’d tried to get a hold of Carter, but to no avail.

All kinds of scenarios were running through his head and he just wished that Jack was safe. Dr. Jameson had knocked on his door just as his thoughts had reached fever pitch and he tossed a paperweight at the door without realizing it.

He was going to have to track the man down and apologize.

“Are you okay now?” Henry patted him when he nodded.

“Dr. Blake can’t get through, either,” Donovan added.

It was a nerve wracking experience, not knowing if Jack was okay.

“He had just enough time to get to higher ground,” Henry assured. “Now, we just need to wait a little bit until we try again.”

Fargo poked his head in the office. “Did anyone know that Zoe was in California?” he asked. “She’s on the phone right now and she wants to talk to Carter. … What should I tell her?”

Henry sighed. “I’ll talk to her,” he stood with a groan as Nathan covered his eyes, trying not to panic. “It was my doing that sent him there in the first place. What is she doing in California, anyway? I thought she was at Harvard.”

“She’s not?” Donovan frowned.

Nathan just wanted everyone out, so he could imagine that nothing bad was happening outside of Eureka.

** *

Chris dropped down into an empty chair with a sigh.

Something was going on with the reception in New York, so he’d tried getting in touch with Ezra, Nathan, Buck and JD, but he didn’t get any luck there, either.

He leaned his head back and huffed. Now he knew what the Judge felt like when he hadn’t heard from them in days, all anxious and waiting for word of their safety.

If he ever got back to Denver, he was going to buy the man as much alcohol as he wanted.

“Chris,” Josiah appeared in the doorway of the room they had sheltered in. “Any word from anyone?”

“Not quite yet. Hopefully, I’ll get someone to call me back soon enough.”

“Zoe is speaking with her father,” he told him. “She managed to get through.”

“That’s good,” he nodded. At least someone did.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for long minutes. It was a far cry from the eerie silence directly following the tornado outbreak.

He was never going to forget it for the rest of his life.

It reminded him of his SEAL days.

And that was never good either.

The aftermath was almost worst and it was incredibly hard to believe that what took bombs minutes to do, a twister took _seconds_.

And it was a _naturally_ occurring phenomena.

He had incredibly new respect for both the survivors _and_ the storm chasers.

Damage like this changes people.

“Alright, Brother?” Josiah watched him.

“Yeah,” he rubbed his eyes. “Thinkin’ about finding a beer, though.”

“I’m sure we can find a suitable place,” he agreed. He turned and started slightly as he found young Zoe standing there, phone pressed to her ear, blue eyes wide in a pale face.

“Zo?” Chris spotted her, too. “What’s wrong?”

“Where did you say one of your friends were?” she asked faintly.

“New York City. Why?”

“That’s where my dad is,” she was shaking slightly. “Do you know what happened there not too long ago?”

“… You stay right there and I’ll be right back. I can tell I’m going to need that drink.”

** *

She tried the phone, trying hard not to look at the report on the news.

He wasn’t answering.

She tried the next number.

He wasn’t answering, either.

She bit into her lip as she stared at her phone.

“Mom?”

“Mm?”

“You know they can take care of themselves, right?”

“I know, I know. I just can’t help it, you know?”

“That’s assuming they’re together,” her fiancé pointed out.

“Dad, why would one be anywhere without the other?”

He shrugged. “It’s not impossible.”

She watched the two of them, because it was so much better than paying attention to the news.

She’d come to terms on the island that she didn’t need to be so overprotective toward her child, but that maternal instinct still won on occasion and they all knew to let her release it.

Somehow, though, that maternal instinct also extended toward the two men who had helped them when they needed it most.

The ones not picking up their phones.

She tried the first number again as the report circled back about the drowning of New York City and she breathed deeply.

“Mom, Dr. Grant – whether Billy is with him or not – survived dinosaurs. If he is even in New York, I’m sure that he’s probably doing fine.”

“Maybe he’s sorry that he ever left the island.”

“Dad…”

“I’m just saying,” he shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I think dinosaurs are more predictable than the weather.”

They were both right.

She wasn’t sure why she was worrying over two grown adults – who may or may not be together in a city half-underwater. Or at all.

Dr. Grant had survived a dinosaur run-in long before he ever met them for round two.

“Mom?” a hand touched her arm and she smiled into her son’s brown eyes. “They’ll be alright.”

“You’re right. I know. I… I’m just fussing. Like anything else is new, right? But, I’ll try not to go overboard when I see them again.”

“Like that’s going to happen.”

“Dad.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“No, he’s right, Eric. I’m a mother hen, but I really will try to not smother either of them like I did the last time.”

He looked at his mother and shook his head.

Amanda Kirby would probably end up moving in with one or the other of their friends if she felt like she had to.

He glanced at the television and winced.

If she was right and one of the two – separately if not together – were in NYC, _he_ was going to move in with them, too.

** *


	22. Chapter 22

Billy rubbed his eyes as he lay back on Alan’s couch.

Things were running smoothly, though he winced when he remembered receiving the email that students were being dropped from their classes. If this turned out to be nothing…

But he remembered the eerie silence where there used to be animals and Misha’s … fit, he supposed was the name for her sleepwalking from her dorm to the office without remembering the trip.

The students were on their way to Vegas – some had to be arriving right about now – and they were at least a day from the half-way point in their – as of yet unnamed – operation.

The evacuation was coming along wonderfully thanks to Lanie, Misha and Erin.

The three girls were clustered around Alan’s desk and he remembered many a time where he had been in the same position.

What he wouldn’t give to be back in that position with the older man smiling wryly up at him as he pointed something out.

“Look, Billy,” Lanie glanced over. “Why don’t you take a walk? You look like you need to move around.”

That was true. Billy always did his best work when on the move.

Alan couldn’t help pointing that out every time they worked on a dig, when they had to be still and patient.

“No,” he shook his head. “Jerk may be hanging around still.”

“Yeah, good point,” Erin moved her head slightly.

Misha was about to say something when her phone vibrated and she dug it out with a frown. Billy had an arm over his eyes and couldn’t see her slowly pale as she tapped Lanie on the shoulder to show her the text she just received from an aunt in Nevada.

Lanie felt her eyes go wide as she let out a gasp and Erin sighed as she looked over the Bio Major’s shoulder.

Once the words sunk in, her eyes flew over to Billy and swallowed, one thought continuously running through her mind.

“Billy,” she dug up a smile. “Why don’t you head on over to Grant’s place to get a few things for him? There’s a few things you left there, too, right? Maybe you should bring it with you. Just in case.”

Billy heaved a sigh.

She was right. After Sorna, Billy couldn’t really make himself stay at his own place any more than necessary. Not everything was at Alan’s so he reluctantly heaved himself up off the couch as Lanie typed frantically on her keyboard.

“Okay. I’ll go,” he sighed. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Where would we go?” Erin raised a brow as he waved a hand and left for his place.

“Erin,” Misha’s voice trembled Once the door shut behind Billy and they were free to talk. “It’s true about New York. What if he finds out before …”

“Nah,” she shook her head. “He’s got a CD of all the songs he and Grant likes and he plays it when he’s missing the man. The boy’s got it bad.”

Lanie stared solemnly at the headlines she pulled up and shook her head. “This is crazy.”

Erin read over her shoulder before curling a hand into each girl’s collar. “We tell him _nothing_ , clear?”

** *

Pure, wonderful silence.

Nathan leaned back in his leather armchair with a heartfelt sigh, sipping some of his favorite tea.

It had started drizzling about an hour ago and the clouds looked dark enough to start pouring very soon.

He stared out the window he’d dragged the chair in front of and sighed again.

Many times he’d sat in this chair in front of this window.

And every single time had been because of Jack Carter, who was still unreachable.

Henry had forced him out of the office because there was literally nothing for him to do. It wasn’t like he could concentrate, anyway, with thinking about Jack.

Here, he could focus on his thoughts, but that wouldn’t do much good, either.

While he wasn’t one to display emotions freely, he did know that his thoughts were clearly not in Eureka. Donovan could tell where his thoughts lay with an ease only one of his background could have, but Henry knew because of knowing him so well for so long.

Allison was taking care of things on her end, so he didn’t even have the luxury of calling her for a distraction, though he doubted she would be much help there, either, considering that thoughts of Allie would eventually lead to thoughts of Carter and then he’d be back at square one.

Why hadn’t he asked Carter for dinner or something before he left?

Yes, the blond had been giving off – for all intents and purposes – mixed signals, but Nathan could have at least told him exactly his position on dating upfront and let the chips fall where they may.

So, why didn’t he?

Why not go up to the blond before he left and tell him that he was not adverse to having a deeper relationship? He could have presented the facts exactly as they were, but no.

He’d made some wisecrack that had long dissipated into the ether of time and watched the blond’s blue eyes light up in amusement.

From the time Nathan had first began to come to terms with his attachment to Jack, he’d been under the impression that he could get to know him more and that they had all the time in the world to work up to a natural point.

That was no longer a viable option.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure the blond thought of them as friends, though he himself did. Well, closer than acquaintances, anyway.

He did know that one did not try dating another simply out of the blue from years of tension, though the nature of said tension was certainly up for debate.

And goodness knows why Jack hadn’t said anything to him about getting closer. He knew well that the blond would try getting close to his object of affection, but none of the usual rituals accompanying Jack’s attempt at dating were present in their interactions even though Nathan knew there were subtle signs telling him that Jack wouldn’t be adverse to dating, either.

This was exactly why he preferred numbers. They didn’t give you clues leading to answers that may not be correct.

Jack was just unpredictable and he usually didn’t like unpredictable, but he grew to enjoy being surprised by the man. The various unknown variables concerning the reason _why_ Jack wouldn’t say anything was just too numerous to keep track of because Nathan didn’t have any kind of reference point with him. It wasn’t because of the idea of engaging in homosexual behavior because a few scientists were gay and Jack seemed more protective of them than anything else, so that was out.

Other than that, he had nothing to go on.

Now, though, there was an increasingly likely chance that he never would.

He would never know the inside of the blond’s head to the point of near prediction of actions or reactions.

He would never know trivial things that he knew about Allison.

He would never know things that he had wondered about, but never thought to ask.

Had Jack always been afraid of heights or was there something else driving it? What did he do when Nathan wasn’t around to observe him?

What kind of pancakes did he like if he ate them?

Did he like pudding?

Or chocolate?

Distant green eyes watched as the drizzle slowly turn to actual rain drops.

Had he ever kissed anyone in the rain?

Had he ever just walked into the woods at the edge of town on a day off to meet up with someone for a few hours of quiet companionship as they walked among the trees? Or just packed a lunch and got too distracted with each other to do more than take a few bites when they remembered?

Nathan could imagine it all very well in his mind.

One of the places Nathan could show him was in just such a setting.

It was a secret place that he disappeared to when he could and he never showed even Allison his spot. The small clearing was a wonderfully private space where he could pitch a tent for the afternoon or the weekend and just be.

He snorted as he rightly predicted just where things would be going after that should Jack be out there with him.

Nathan had had more than enough time to come up with things to do with him. And _to_ him, if he was being honest.

But it was still a pretty illusion he had no problem immersing himself in as the rain grew more steady, a slight breeze picking up.

He knew the odds of someone outrunning a wall of water in New York City’s maze of streets.

Nathan knew the odds of _Jack_ outrunning a wall of water.

Believing that he was alright was certainly an empty dream, but he had no way of knowing otherwise.

Everything Nathan knew about liquids and gravity and any number of factors meant nothing when Jack was thrown into the equation because he was the wild card. The unpredictable factor that he couldn’t track no matter what he used to try to do so.

And that was alright.

He was starting to love unpredictable.

* ** *


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! Muse is between stories, but I'm trying with school starting again. Amongst other things.
> 
> I have to type up a bunch of what I have written and fill in holes, but I hope to write half the second notebook by November. I am still writing don't worry! 
> 
> Muse dragging me between three different stories - SumCon is like three stories ahead and I haven't even finished the current one! - not to mention my New Secretary M7 Gen fic.
> 
> I have never written a story quite like this!

Buck Wilmington had seen, heard and done a lot of things in his life.

Walking down some street in the middle of nowhere after having crossed a hell sent channel to _Africa_ was a new one on him.

Worrying about Chris wasn’t so much new as it was old hat by now. Josiah being included was yet another unfamiliar factor.

Buck shook his head.

It seemed like he, JD, Ezra, Nathan and Vin were the only ones who were safe at this point in a world gone haywire.

They had several messages for one of the pair of them to call at one of the American Embassies in Africa, which would send the message on if they weren’t able to get it.

Buck hated waiting and he couldn’t help feeling sorry for Vin, who was on the same continent and _still_ couldn’t get through. ‘Junior must be wearing holes in the floor.’

Buck would be, too, if he wasn’t going as far South as he could manage.

Ezra had been subtly pushing them to go South, but Vin agreeing with the plan – as well as being the driving force – just made them all that much more inclined to go as fast as possible.

In reality, not so much.

Buck took back everything he ever said about Denver drivers and that was _all_ he was saying on that.

Right now, they were relaxing as they got over the horrible ride on that damn ferry. Ez was even affected, looking slightly green at the thought of getting back in a vehicle, so they were settling their stomachs until they could think about the road ahead.

Well, the four of them were, Buck was wandering around the different streets, hoping to get his mind away from the two friends he didn’t know the status and health of.

Although, he was grateful that Vin was safe in New York and away from tornado outbreaks. He could just imagine what Ez must be going through now and was glad they didn’t have to worry about the Texan on top of Chris and Josiah, though they did tend to worry about each other when they were all apart.

Buck didn’t know much about the details, but he did have eyes and they were telling him that Ol’ Ez had a conversation with Vin that probably went along the lines of ‘it’s me, not you, but I’ll think on it some and get back to you for a real answer.’ The Southerner had been preoccupied even before their flight South and he’d been off since they started.

Buck knew that he was maybe oversimplifying things, but it seemed to him that both Ezra and Vin were overcomplicating them. Since they landed in Spain, Buck knew that the pair had been at least in contact with each other because Ezra had this glazed look on his face whenever Buck saw him that only came about after talking to Vin – which he also noted before their conversation leading up to one overseas and the other in the Big Apple. Those poor boys just didn’t see the effect they had on each other and it really tore the older man’s heart to pieces knowing that they were making it so hard on themselves when they didn’t need to.

But he just didn’t know what to do. They had to figure it out by themselves, as much as Buck hated to admit it.

Although, the ‘locked closet’ trick was still on the table should Buck find himself stepping in for one reason or another.

Stretching his arms above his head, Buck yawned as he passed another street closing up for the night. It was about time for the local nightlife to start getting busy, but he would be going soon enough.

He glanced at his watch and figured that he’d been off on his own for long enough and was about to turn back when his ears caught a conversation between two American tourists clucking over something in the local newspaper.

“Could you imagine?” one shook her head. “I’m glad no one I know is in New York City or I would be a nervous wreck!”

Her companion nodded his head. “I can’t even imagine being stuck there. All those poor people.”

Buck was inching closer before he even registered moving, thoughts racing.

What had happened in New York City? A stone dropped into his stomach at the thought.

The man caught his eye and Buck put on his best smile as he made himself visible and non-threatening. “Can we help you?”

“Well, I was jus’ headin’ back to my friends when I overheard you folks talkin’ about New York. I was wonderin’ what you heard.”

“You haven’t heard?” the woman frowned.

“Been travelin’ everywhere. Business, you know how it is,” he shrugged.

“Tell me about it,” the guy shook his head. “I guess the news hasn’t hit the airwaves yet.”

“And, uh, what news would that be?”

The woman simply held up a page of an English printed news thing and he _swore_ he felt his heart stop.

Buck Wilmington had seen, heard and done a lot of things in his life.

Keeping this to himself and away from the others – especially Ezra – was going to be the hardest thing of all.

** *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I know that you might be wondering about Buck and his reasons, but it will make sense very soon, promise.


	24. Photographic Evidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the good news:
> 
> THE STORY - and author - IS NOT DEAD!!! *throws confetti* Huzzah!
> 
> I have over 70 subscriptions and 102 Kudos and you all rock! (Just thought I should point that out. Not holding anything for ransom, honest.)
> 
> I have a whole pile of stuff I'm sitting on right now in addition to having planned this story out and am momentarily making myself stop writing ahead so I can fill holes so I can get to posting. 
> 
> You are getting four more chapters this year! 
> 
> There are enough chapters now ready to post every month for the next year!!!
> 
> * ** *
> 
> And now for the bad news:
> 
> This may very well be the most depressing-type story I have written thus far. 
> 
> There are chapters that will have their own warnings, because not everything is included in the tags and I don't want to give anyone any false impressions when something is only mentioned in chapter like once. When you see the word 'Flashlight' included in the Author's Notes, be aware that there may or may not be trigger material incoming. You can decide for yourself if there is any trigger because I know that not everyone sees the same thing as a trigger. And you are more than welcome to guess in the comments. It'll be interesting to see what you guys catch.
> 
> ~ As a really, really advanced head's up: There is at least one chapter where I ask that you not have anything in your mouth as you read. Or you will start thinking about things, spit it out all over your reading devices and almost die laughing.  
> ~~ EXAMPLE: Flashlight! or Flashlight; also, frozen people. You'll see.
> 
> At this point, I am basically rewriting the 'Day After Tomorrow' - which I probably should've thought about before I started writing this *shrugs* - so I will again remind you that things might be changed. Not major things, just sequence of events, or character back stories, and if you don't like long drawn out stories... it's probably too late to hit the back button.
> 
> Chapter length will vary; I will be shocked if I do not reach 1k pages at the end of this and we'll probably hit 80 chapters on conservative estimates. Possibly 90.
> 
> I am sincerely hoping no one ends up clinically depressed after this story.
> 
> At this time, Hurricane Harvey - 'Suits', anyone? - has hit Texas a week ago, with Irma bearing down on Florida. I apologize in advance for any triggers you may encounter in that regard. When I wrote a majority of this story, Katrina/various tsunamis flashbacks were really the only things to warn about, but that is no longer the case. 
> 
> * ** *
> 
> Other news:
> 
> This AN was a lot longer than I planned. How've you guys been?
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

Billy closed the door to Alan’s house and sighed.

It was starting to rain now, and he just managed to beat it coming from his own place to Alan’s. Not like it was that hard. He knew all the shortcuts to Alan’s place by now.

Erin had once driven him to his PT and had given him an odd look when he kept insisting that she turn down this street and keep going on that one. He could just _see_ the words ‘you’ve got it so bad’ on her face.

Yeah, he just couldn’t help it when it came to Alan.

That’s why he had found himself coming here instead of heading back to campus. He wasn’t sure when he would see the older man again – and that storm he’d told him about must have been bad enough to disrupt the power since Billy had a devil of a time getting in touch with him - , so he probably decided to ready himself for the meantime.

There was an old couch in front of the television and Billy collapsed on it, closing his eyes and breathing in the familiar scents.

If he listened hard enough, he could hear Alan moving around upstairs as he changed the sheets on the younger man’s bed. The coffee machine drips would accompany the smell of coffee as Billy lay on the couch as he had many times before.

And just like many times before, Alan would eventually come downstairs and fix a cup of coffee for the both of them and hand one to Billy on his way to his armchair.

Billy sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, not wanting to come back to reality. He wanted Alan in his armchair with that odd little smile that Billy only saw when they were alone and he just wanted to know that he could reach out and touch the older man if he so chose to.

But, he knew, he was alone in the house while rain started coming down in buckets.

The ache inside of him just got deeper when he finally opened his eyes to see an empty room.

The belief he'd used to have about this crush going away on its own was now looking more and more like a pipe dream. If anything, he thought it might have gotten worse with Alan's absence.

That's kind of something he didn't need, because it would be more difficult to control his reactions to the man when he got back. 

It was already taking Billy a lot of self restraint from just hugging the man for no logical reason - or just going up to him and pecking him on the lips or something - and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stop himself before he slipped up and then what would happen?

It didn't bear thinking about.

Hauling himself up off the couch, he looked around the downstairs rooms for anything he needed to take with him and he eventually found himself upstairs.

He took important stuff from his room and held off going into Alan’s closed room until he made himself grip the doorknob and slowly open it, the apples and cinnamon scent that he’d always associated with the older man flooding his senses.

Billy knew that he could come in at any time if he needed something, but it still felt like he was intruding, even without the other actually present. There were some important papers in the closet and Billy knew that Alan would want them with someone he trusted.

He turned on the light and stood at the door to look around.

There was the bed, the pair of night tables, the dresser to his right and the closet to his left. The bathroom suite was between the dresser and the night table closest to it. A rug that Billy remembered giving Alan before Sorna was on the floor beside the bed on the side Alan slept on and it looked like he hadn’t had the energy to fix the mussed sheets on it.

There were pictures on the bedside tables; of Dr. Malcolm and Dr. Sattler, of Lex and Tim Murphy, and the most recent of the Kirbys that they sent some time back.

Billy took another look and tried not to take it too much to heart that he couldn’t find a single picture of himself in the room.

Heaving a sigh, he remembered Alan saying something about checking in the closet and the night tables for important papers and set about doing so. He checked everything and made sure that he had things he was supposed to have when one of those things slid out of his hand and under the bed.

Billy carefully set the other stuff down on the bed and got down on his stomach to retrieve it. It wasn’t at all hard to spot, since the only other thing under there was a shoe box.

‘A shoebox?’ he tilted his head and dragged that out, too. He was just too curious for his own good sometimes, but he couldn’t help wondering what was in it.

Baseball cards, old bones that could have been actual dinosaur bones from when he was a kid, small pebbles he’d picked up on a whim…

Any number of those things was possible and Billy swore he’d take a small peek just to see if he needed to take the box with him, too, but every noble notion that he’d had crumbled into dust when he actually opened the lid.

Baseball cards?

No.

Little pebbles?

No.

Buttons? Little sea shells?

No.

The box was full of pictures.

Of _him_.

He sat down hard on the floor, eyes wide.

Why would Alan have a box full of his pictures?

Billy felt like someone else was sifting through the newly discovered find, still not sure what to think.

There were pictures of him on campus; there were pictures of him on digs… even at the student union on campus.

He wasn’t doing anything very interesting in them, just being himself. And what was even more astonishing was that he _remembered_ when every last one of them was taken.

There was always someone running around with a camera and Billy usually didn’t think anything of it when he caught sight of one nearby. He had no idea copies were going to Alan.

He laid out the pictures into piles based on location and ended up with eight pictures that he couldn’t immediately place.

In these, Billy was looking straight at the camera with a blinding smile on his face. It was something that he never remembered seeing before, especially when he compared his visage in the eight to the rest of the box.

He narrowed his eyes in thought.

The earliest of the eight was also the earliest of the box.

He’d just completed his very first week on a dig run by Alan and he had been feeling high up on cloud nine. He remembered running into one of the photographers and was talking to him about setting shots when Alan walked past. The older man had said something to him and waved on his way by and – if Billy remembered hard enough – he had watched the older man walking away.

That must have been when the shutter clicked. He had a distant look on his face as he stared out of frame.

The next one looked like it had been taken almost a year later.

He was in a tent and was holding a water bottle to his mouth as he smiled at the camera.

Billy blinked as he suddenly remembered what he was doing in the photo. He’d been talking to a volunteer who had been taking pictures and he’d caught sight of Alan coming up behind the photographer as he must have been just pushing the button.

Billy smiled slightly as he remembered the poor guy’s yelp when Alan tapped him on the shoulder.

The third picture was different in that he wasn’t by himself.

He was crouched down beside Alan as they studied a dinosaur print and Billy was in the middle of taking a picture of it when the photo was taken. Alan was on his right and was moving his hand above the print while talking and Billy had been so absorbed in making the right shot that he must not have registered Alan’s silence. The photo was taken with him looking through his camera pointed at the ground and Alan looking at him with a familiar smile on his face.

Well, it was familiar now, Billy realized.

He’d seen that smile a lot since that picture was taken.

Looking back through the pictures in the piles, he realized that he was the _only_ one who’d seen that smile.

Alan was in a few of the other pictures and Billy compared them to the one he held in his other hand. In each of the pictures Alan appeared, his smile was different. But Billy had honestly never seen some of those smiles.

There was a niggle at the back of his mind as he returned to the eight pictures.

The fourth picture was Billy by himself again, that same blinding smile in the other two pictures directed at the camera with a look in his eyes that he would have classified on another as a happiness only a crush could bring. But he had never felt like that with any of the guys he had slept with in his life. Or ever.

The fifth and sixth pictures had that same look directed at the camera with the same smile.

Taking a close look, he saw that he was looking at the person behind the camera, but couldn’t for the life of him remember who was taking the camera.

The seventh picture had Billy again, but he was looking out at the rest of the dig with the sun beginning to set. There didn’t seem to be a reason for the picture being taken, because he was just sitting there with a far off look on his face and he didn’t seem to notice his picture being taken.

Billy frowned at it. Who took that? And why were they wasting film?

But the eighth and final picture slid many of the puzzle pieces into place to form a startling picture.

It was the New Year’s before Isla Sorna and Billy had that same look with that same smile directed at the camera and he was leaning against a column at a museum that was doing this New Year’s bash and he and Alan had been the only ones invited out of their university.

Billy remembered that moment _clearly_.

He’d just come in from watching the fireworks from the balcony where everyone else was and had run into Alan who was lurking at one of the windows. Billy had noticed the camera in the older man’s possession and had asked if he was a good photographer. Alan had shrugged and told him that he would like a souvenir of sorts to take back. Billy volunteered for the picture and it was that picture he was looking at now.

Alan had taken that picture.

The one that Billy was smiling so happily in.

Alan had taken photos before, but it was only now that Billy was starting to remember with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He had taken the fourth, fifth and sixth pictures. The ones that had Billy smiling so brilliantly at the person _behind the camera_.

Billy sat in silence for long minutes, just staring.

Alan had elicited that smile and that look from him.

A hand shakily reached into his pocket to extract and open his wallet, and Billy let his eyes drop to the pictures he had in there.

They were of himself and Alan.

One of them had been taken the month before Sorna and Alan was facing the camera as he talked to Billy and he saw the look in the older man’s blue eyes.

It was the same look Billy had in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth pictures.

He covered his mouth with his hand.

There was a picture taken of the two of them almost two months ago, now. Billy turned to that one and saw the two of them smiling at each other.

Billy felt the breath rush out of him as he lowered himself to lay down on his back, suddenly dizzy as the realization flooded over him.

He recognized that look.

The one on both their faces.

It was the one he saw all the time when he encountered couples all over both campus and the city. 

There was only one possible name for that look directed at Alan from himself and vice versa.

He suddenly found it hard to swallow as moisture pricked at his eyes.

A lot of things suddenly made a whole hell of a lot more sense.

* ** *


End file.
